To an Old Couple / Scudder Middleton

To an Old Couple  (1917)  by Scudder Middleton

from Poetry, April 1917

To an Old Couple

Old couple having tea, Balmain, New South Wales, Australia. Photo by Sam Hood (1872-1953). Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

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.
 

This poem is in the public domain