To an Old Couple / Scudder Middleton

To an Old Couple


Wait a little while — Death will answer to your nodding; Like a friend he will come and find you, Take you both and fold you from the sun. Two old, tired people! What does it matter to you now That no one thing was completed, Not even a single task set the early heart Achieved in fulness? Bow on your mute assents to life! The years unravel the designs of youth, Yet time brings at the last The serene illusion of accomplishment. When your two wrinkled hands meet in the night— You know that all is well. Wait a while— The door will open.