I SAW him steal the light away

That haunted in her eye: It went so gently none could say More than that it was there one day And missing by-and-by.

I watched her longer, and he stole Her lily tincts and rose; All her young sprightliness of soul Next fell beneath his cold control, And disappeared like those.

I asked: “Why do you serve her so? Do you, for some glad day, Hoard these her sweets—?” He said, “O no, They charm not me; I bid Time throw Them carelessly away.”

Said I: “We call that cruelty— We, your poor mortal kind.” He mused. “The thought is new to me. Forsooth, though I men’s master be, Theirs is the teaching mind!”