Page:Collected poems Robinson, Edwin Arlington.djvu/189

 And when the best friend of your life goes down, When first you know in him the slackening That comes, and coming always tells the end, Now in a common word that would have passed TJncaught from any other lips than his, Now in some trivial act of every day, Done as he might have done it all along But for a twinging little difference That nips you like a squirrel's teeth oh, yes, Then you will understand it well enough. But oftener it comes in other ways; It comes without your knowing when it comes; You know that he is changing, and you know That he is going- just as I krmw now That Archibald is going, and that I Am staying. . . . Look at me, my boy, And when the time shall come for you to see That I must follow after him, try then To think of me, to bring me back again, Just as I was to-day. Think of the place Where we are sitting now, and think of me Think of old Isaac as you knew him then, When you set out with him in August once To see old Archibald." The words come back Almost as Isaac must have uttered them, And there comes with them a dry memory Of something in my throat that would not move. If you had asked me then to tell just why I made so much of Isaac and the things He said, I should have gone far for an answer; For I knew it was not sorrow that I felt, Whatever I may have wished it, or tried then To make myself believe. My mouth was full Of words, and they would have been comforting