 | Sonnets in Switzerland and Italy |  |
71
THE LOST HALF-HOUR
LUGANO, MIDNIGHT, MAY 31, 1894
Last night the clocks that clanged from every tower
Struck twelve, then, leaping forward, lightly went,
And Europe's middle nations by consent
Gave to the hand of Death a full half-hour.
If mortals had such arbitrary power,
What hours of wrong, what moments idly spent
Should we consign to endless banishment,
Or give to dull oblivion for his dower!
Struck twelve, then, leaping forward, lightly went,
And Europe's middle nations by consent
Gave to the hand of Death a full half-hour.
If mortals had such arbitrary power,
What hours of wrong, what moments idly spent
Should we consign to endless banishment,
Or give to dull oblivion for his dower!
We would not wait for midnight's drowse of sleep,
Nor make-believe with cog and weight and wheel
And senseless dial to cast the time away;
But wide-awake, and in the face of day
Our shears should cut, albeit the wound was deep,
And trust Love's full forgetfulness to heal.
Nor make-believe with cog and weight and wheel
And senseless dial to cast the time away;
But wide-awake, and in the face of day
Our shears should cut, albeit the wound was deep,
And trust Love's full forgetfulness to heal.
| Sonnets in Switzerland and Italy | |