193 . The Pool

BESIDE the pale water

Linger chapman and churl;

Prince, poet; boy and girl;

Harlot and king’s daughter.

Over the dark hedge climb

White stars like roses:

Dark hedge that encloses

The dusty road of Time.

Herein all men

Gaze, as in a glass,

Awhile; then pass

Down the long road again,

Murmuring a vague surmise,

A bitter word, or a jest:

With head sunken on breast;

Or erect, with shining eyes.…

For, as upon their way

They stoop to drink

Beside the reedy brink,

They see in the water grey,

Some, their own idle faces;

Some, ripples that die

Stilly, mysteriously,

Of an unseen wind the traces;

Some, but the slime below,

Black and rotting; some,

Only the idle scum

Drifting to and fro.

But some, with clearer view,

In the pool’s heart behold

Bright stars manifold,

And God’s arched heaven blue.…

To the grey pool all men

Come, one by one, to drink

Awhile at its reedy brink,

And tread the road again.…