Walking down Bristol Street,
The crowds upon the pavement
Were fields of harvest wheat.
I heard a lover sing
Under an arch of the railway:
'Love has no ending.
Till China and Africa meet,
And the river jumps over the mountain
And the salmon sing in the street,
Is folded and hung up to dry
And the seven stars go squawking
Like geese about the sky.
For in my arms I hold
The Flower of the Ages,
And the first love of the world.'
Began to whirr and chime:
'O let not Time deceive you,
You cannot conquer Time.
Where Justice naked is,
Time watches from the shadow
And coughs when you would kiss.
Vaguely life leaks away,
And Time will have his fancy
To-morrow or to-day.
Drifts the appalling snow;
Time breaks the threaded dances
And the diver's brilliant bow.
Plunge them in up to the wrist;
Stare, stare in the basin
And wonder what you've missed.
The desert sighs in the bed,
And the crack in the tea-cup opens
A lane to the land of the dead.
And the Giant is enchanting to Jack,
And the Lily-white Boy is a Roarer,
And Jill goes down on her back.
O look in your distress:
Life remains a blessing
Although you cannot bless.
As the tears scald and start;
You shall love your crooked neighbour
With your crooked heart.'
The lovers they were gone;
The clocks had ceased their chiming,
And the deep river ran on.
