 | Jones Very : The Complete Poems |  |
The Removal
When he who owns a house has come to thee,And begs you move, for he must enter in;
Dost thou not pay, when asked, his little fee,
And for thy journeying hence right quick begin?
But I, when I have come: who own no land,
Nor houses built of wood, or wrought of stone;
Why dost thou waiting and uncertain stand,
As if the house I let was not my own?
“I have been here so long it seems like mine,”
Thou sayst; “but still the more ought thou to leave;”
“My children here were born; can I resign”
“My all, and thou a stranger too?” “believe”
“And thou canst do it; and I grant yet more”
“A better house for thine I will restore.”
Poem No. 786; summer–fall 1839
| Jones Very : The Complete Poems | |