 | The Conversion of Winckelmann and Other Poems |  |
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SORROW'S IMPORTUNITY
I
When Sorrow first came wailing to my door,April rehearsed the madrigal of May;
And, as I ne'er had seen her face before,
I kept on singing, and she went her way.
II
When next came Sorrow, life was winged with scentOf glistening laurel and full-blossoming bay:
I asked, but understood not, what she meant,
Offered her flowers, and she went her way.
89
III
When yet a third time Sorrow came, we metIn the ripe silence of an Autumn day:
I gave her fruit I had gathered, and she ate,
Then seemed to go unwillingly away.
IV
When last came Sorrow, around barn and byreWind-carven snow, the Year's white sepulchre, lay.
“Come in,” I said, “and warm you by the fire.”
And there she sits, and never goes away.
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