HOARDED JOY

I said:‘ Nay, pluck not,— let the first fruit be:

Even as thou sayest, it is sweet and red,

But let it ripen still. The tree's bent head

Sees in the stream its own fecundity

And bides the day of fulness. Shall not we

At the sun's hour that day possess the shade,

And claim our fruit before its ripeness fade,

And eat it from the branch and praise the tree?’

I say:‘ Alas! our fruit hath wooed the sun

Too long,—‘ tis fallen and floats adown the stream.

Lo, the last clusters! Pluck them every one,

And let us sup with summer; ere the gleam

Of autumn set the year's pent sorrow free,

And the woods wail like echoes from the sea.’