Page:Poems and ballads (IA poemsballads00swinrich).pdf/246

 Can ye beat off one wave with prayer, Can ye move mountains? bid the flower Take flight and turn to a bird in the air? Can ye hold fast for shine or shower One wingless hour?

Ah sweet, and we too, can we bring One sigh back, bid one smile revive? Can God restore one ruined thing, Or he who slays our souls alive Make dead things thrive?

Two gifts perforce he has given us yet, Though sad things stay and glad things fly; Two gifts he has given us, to forget All glad and sad things that go by, And then to die.

We know not whether death be good, But life at least it will not be: Men will stand saddening as we stood, Watch the same fields and skies as we And the same sea.

Let this be said between us here, One love grows green when one turns grey; This year knows nothing of last year; To-morrow has no more to say To yesterday.