The ancient man who has forgotten time
Walks seldom in the hurried city street,
Where is the man who has forgotten time?
For we so seldom meet—
Only sometimes on mornings after rain,
When feathers from the passing wings of night
Linger in wide sky spaces after rain,
I see the strangest sight—
The houses by the river melt away,
And there are paths between the silent trees,
And all the city's uproar melts away
Into the hum of bees.
And by the water walks an ancient man,
Who watches how the swift-tailed squirrels climb,
And him I know to be the ancient man
Who has forgotten time.
I often meet him pacing on the hills,
Or near flat marshy wastes where no one goes,
But very seldom will he leave the hills
Or sea-cliffs that he knows.
And so I meet him rarely in the town,
But I can always tell his face again,
And sometimes I have seen him in the town
At daybreak after rain.
