by W. H. Auden<\/p>\n
As I walked out one evening,
\nWalking down Bristol Street,
\nThe crowds upon the pavement
\nWere fields of harvest wheat.<\/p>\n
And down by the brimming river
\nI heard a lover sing
\nUnder an arch of the railway:
\n‘Love has no ending.<\/p>\n
‘I’ll love you, dear, I’ll love you
\nTill China and Africa meet,
\nAnd the river jumps over the mountain
\nAnd the salmon sing in the street,<\/p>\n
‘I’ll love you till the ocean
\nIs folded and hung up to dry
\nAnd the seven stars go squawking
\nLike geese about the sky.<\/p>\n
‘The years shall run like rabbits,
\nFor in my arms I hold
\nThe Flower of the Ages,
\nAnd the first love of the world.’<\/p>\n
But all the clocks in the city
\nBegan to whirr and chime:
\n‘O let not Time deceive you,
\nYou cannot conquer Time.<\/p>\n
‘In the burrows of the Nightmare
\nWhere Justice naked is,
\nTime watches from the shadow
\nAnd coughs when you would kiss.<\/p>\n
‘In headaches and in worry
\nVaguely life leaks away,
\nAnd Time will have his fancy
\nTo-morrow or to-day.<\/p>\n
‘Into many a green valley
\nDrifts the appalling snow;
\nTime breaks the threaded dances
\nAnd the diver’s brilliant bow.<\/p>\n
‘O plunge your hands in water,
\nPlunge them in up to the wrist;
\nStare, stare in the basin
\nAnd wonder what you’ve missed.<\/p>\n
‘The glacier knocks in the cupboard,
\nThe desert sighs in the bed,
\nAnd the crack in the tea-cup opens
\nA lane to the land of the dead.<\/p>\n
‘Where the beggars raffle the banknotes
\nAnd the Giant is enchanting to Jack,
\nAnd the Lily-white Boy is a Roarer,
\nAnd Jill goes down on her back.<\/p>\n
‘O look, look in the mirror,
\nO look in your distress:
\nLife remains a blessing
\nAlthough you cannot bless.<\/p>\n
‘O stand, stand at the window
\nAs the tears scald and start;
\nYou shall love your crooked neighbour
\nWith your crooked heart.’<\/p>\n
It was late, late in the evening,
\nThe lovers they were gone;
\nThe clocks had ceased their chiming,
\nAnd the deep river ran on.<\/p>\n
-Read at St. Lydia’s on October 23, 2011<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by W. H. Auden 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1031"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1031"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1031\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1032,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1031\/revisions\/1032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}