The Casual Acquaintance

WHILE he was here in breath and bone, To speak to and to see, Would I had known—more clearly known— What that man did for me When the wind scraped a minor lay, And the spent west from white To gray turned tiredly, and from gray To broadest bands of night! But I saw not, and he saw not What shining life-tides flowed To me-ward from his casual jot Of service on that road. He would have said: “’Twas nothing new; We all do what we can; ’Twas only what one man would do For any other man.” Now that I gauge his goodliness He’s slipped from human eyes; And when he passed there’s none can guess, Or point out where he lies.