Past and Present

Past and Present written by William Henry Davies

From "Love Poems" (1935)

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I who have seen a tiny cloud,
No bigger than my Lady's puff,
Powder the Heavens with miles of soot,
And make the seas all wild and rough;

I who have seen that speck at last
Sink half a fleet and drown its men,
With waves, like eagles, swooping down
To carry off both sheep and pen;

I who have felt and seen all this,
And trained my thoughts to quiet scorn —
Am still the man to dress Love's finger,
Scratched by a little pin or thorn.

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