As I walked out one evening
Walking down Bristol Street
The crowds upon the pavement
Were fields of harvest wheat.
And down by the brimming river
I heard a lover sing
Under an arch of the railway
' Love has no ending '
' I'll love you, dear, I'll love you
Till China and Africa meet
And the River jumps over the mountain
And the salmon sing in the street
' I'll love you till the ocean
Is folded and hung up to dry
And the seven stars go squawking
Like geese about the sky
' The years shall run like rabbits
For in my arms I hold
The Flower of the Ages
And the first love of the world'
But all the clocks in the city
Began to whirr and chime
'Oh let not Time deceive you
You cannot conquer Time
'In the burrows of the Nightmare
Where Justice naked is
Time watches from the shadow
And coughs when you would kiss
'In headaches and in worry
Vaguely life leaks away
And Time will have his fancy
Tomorrow or today
Into many a green valley
Drifts the appalling snow
Time breaks the threaded dances
And the diver's brillant bow
'Oh plunge your hands in water
Plunge them in up to the wrist
Stare, stare in the basin
And wonder what you've missed
'The glacier knocks in the cupboard
The desert sighs in the bed
And the crack in the tea cup opens
A lane to the land of death
Where the beggars raffle with bank notes
And the giant is enchanted to Jack
And the Lily white boy is a Roarer
And Jill goes down on her back.
Oh look, look in the mirror
Oh look in your distress
Life remains a blessing
Although you cannot bless
Oh stand, stand at the window
As the tears scald and start
You shall love your crooked neighbour
With your crooked heart
It was late, late in the evening
The lovers they were gone
The clocks had creased their chiming
And the deep river ran on.
~ W.H. Auden
