Alone (Davies)

Alone written by William Henry Davies

From "Love Poems" (1935)

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When we're together, how the moments fly!
We toss them up like jewels in the sun;
We catch them lightly as a falling leaf,
To find a light that's new in every one;
Life then to us is all a game of play
With leaves and jewels, and too short a day.

But when alone with Time, and you away,
I hear those heavy, deadly strokes of his
At Life's foundations, aiming at our years,
That fall in thuds from blows that never miss;
What are our moments then, so weak and small —
When years of life are heard to crash and fall!

This work is in the public domain in countries where the copyright term is the author's life plus 70 years or less.