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Upon a Time

If ever the sweet spring comes,
---I’ll put aside these dead books
And try to feel the herbage freshen
---Along the withered boughs of old dry thoughts.

I’ll walk out somewhere where a garden grows,
---And there I’ll stand some summer evening,
Hat beside elbows on the gray stone wall,
---And the wind will stir, coming from behind the hill.

Afterward I’ll walk home, hands behind me,
---And pause a moment before going in,
Half fancying some one has called my name,
---Or been awakened to a flutter as I passed.

Of course, I’ll enter, but leave the door ajar,
---For someone might come in, you know,
Expectantly I’ll sit to fancy the long evening through
---That a pair of eyes in the summer night

Might light a candle in the dull world,
---So softly that none might see to smile at,
Yet ardently enough—like a vestal candle burning—
---For a little heat in a cold house.

-Jonathan David, 1922