792. Salve!

Thomas Edward Brown. 1830-1897


TO live within a cave--it is most good;
    But, if God make a day,
    And some one come, and say,
'Lo! I have gather'd faggots in the wood!'
    E'en let him stay,
And light a fire, and fan a temporal mood!

So sit till morning! when the light is grown
    That he the path can read,
    Then bid the man God-speed!
His morning is not thine: yet must thou own
They have a cheerful warmth--those ashes on the stone.

The Oxford Book of English Verse, HTML edition