Would You?

COULD you keep the tints of springOn the woods in misty brightness;Keep the half-veiled boughs a-swingTo the linnet's flitting lightness;Through the birch leaves' rippling greenHold the maple-keys from dropping;On the sward with May-showers clean,Cheat the violets into stopping;

Could you make the rosebud's lipsVow to be a bud forever;From the sedges' wavering tips,Bid the pendent dewdrop never;Could you make the sunrise hourFor a lifetime overbrood you;Could you change the year's full dowerFor its first faint promise,—would you?

Though joy beads the cup we quaff,Bubbling from the fount of morning,When the world is all a laugh,And a welcome without warning;At life's Cana-feast, the guest,Lingering on with thirst unsated,Finds a later draught the best:Miracles,—when thou hast waited!

Thought must shade and sun the soulWith its glorious mutations;Every life-song is a wholeSweeter for its variations.Wherefore with your bliss at strife?'T was an angel that withstood you.Could you change your perfect lifeFor a dream of living,—would you?