WAITING

 

Serene I fold my arms and wait;

Nor care for wind, or tide, or sea:

I  rave no more' gainst time or fate,

For lo! my own shall come to me.

 

I stay my  haste, I make my delays,

For what avails this eager pace?

I stand amid the eternal ways,

And what is mine shall know my face.

 

Asleep, awake, by night or day,

The friends I seek are seeking me;

No wind can drive my bark astray,

Nor change the tide of destiny.

 

What matter if I stand alone?

I wait with joy the coming years;

My heart shall reap where it has sown,

And garner up its fruit of tears.

 

The waters know their own, and draw

The brook that springs in yonder height;

So flows the good with equal law

Unto the soul of pure delight.

 

The floweret nodding in the wind

Is ready plighted to the bee;

And, maiden, why that look unkind?

For lo! thy lover seeketh thee.

 

The stars come nightly to the sky;

The tidal wave unto the sea;

Nor time, nor space, nor deep, nor high

Can keep my own away from me.

 

_John Burroughs