Page:Impressions- A Book of Verse.djvu/73

 TO TIME

IME! men have chidden thee with deep-breathed curse And challenged thee as Love's relentless foe, Time! at thy feet I lay my humble verse, For thou hast ever helped true love to grow.

Fancies, like butterflies, 'neath the first frost Fall lifeless at the fading flower's feet, But Love loves on unheeding pain and cost And clasps the thorns where roses once were sweet.

Ah! blest be pain and cost, since but the more Through them doth Love increase to meet Love's need Till thou, O Time! throw wide that garden's door Wherein, Death-sown, blooms Love's undying seed.