So on eternal dials that God may hold,
And those more humble in the human heart,
No bitter deeds their passing hours impart;
Kind deeds alone are marked in fadeless gold!
Arthur Wallace Peach
TO A NEW SUNDIAL
Oh, Sundial, you should not be young,
Or fresh and fair, or spick and span!
None should remember when began
Your tenure here, nor whence you sprung!
Like ancient cromlech notch'd and scarr'd,
I would have had you sadly tow'r
Above this world of leaf and flower
All ivy-tress'd and lichen-starr'd;
Ambassador of Time and Fate,
In contrast stern to bud and bloom,
Seeming half temple and half tomb,
And wholly solemn and sedate;
Till, one with God's own works on earth,
The lake, the vale, the mountain-brow,
We might have come to count you now
Whose home was here before our birth.
But lo! a priggish, upstart thing—
Set here to tell so old a truth—
How fleeting are our days of youth—
You, that were only made last spring!
Go to!... What sermon can you preach,
Oh, mushroom—mentor pert and new?
We are too old to learn of you
What you are all too young to teach!