Elisabeth Lutyens - As I Walked Out One Evening

As I walked out one evening
Walking down Bristol Street
The crowds upon the pavement
Were fields of harvest wheat

And down by the brimming river
I heard a lover sing
Under an arch of the railway:
"Love has no ending

"I'll love you, dear, I'll love you
Till China and Afica meet
And the river jumps over the mountain
And the salmon sing in the street

"I'll love you till the ocean
Is folded and hung up to dry
And the seven stars go squawking
Like geese about the sky."

But all the clocks in the city
Began to whirr and chime:
"O let not Time deceive you
You cannot conquer Time

"In headaches and in worry
Vaguely life leaks away
And time will have his fancy
To-morrow or to-day
"Into many a green valley
Drifts the appalling snow;
Time breaks the threaded dances
And the diver's brilliant bow

"O plunge your hands in water
Plunge them up to the wrist;
Stare, stare in the basin
And wonder what you've missed."

"O look, look in the mirror
O look in your distress;
Life remains a blessing
Although you cannot bless."

"O stand, stand at the window
As the tears scald and start;
You shall love your crooked neighbor
With your crooked heart."

It was late, late in the evening
The lovers they were gone;
The clocks had ceased their chiming
And the deep river ran on