553. Time, Real and Imaginary
AN ALLEGORY

Samuel Taylor Coleridge. 1772-1834


ON the wide level of a mountain's head
(I knew not where, but 'twas some faery place),
Their pinions, ostrich-like, for sails outspread,
Two lovely children run an endless race,
      A sister and a brother!
      This far outstripp'd the other;
  Yet ever runs she with reverted face,
  And looks and listens for the boy behind:
      For he, alas! is blind!
O'er rough and smooth with even step he pass'd,
And knows not whether he be first or last.

The Oxford Book of English Verse, HTML edition