She has no need to fear the fall <br />Of harvest from the laddered reach <br />Of orchards, nor the tide gone ebbing <br />From the steep beach. <br /> <br />Nor hold to pain's effrontery <br />Her body's bulwark, stern and savage, <br />Nor be a glass, where to forsee <br />Another's ravage. <br /> <br />What she has gathered, and what lost, <br />She will not find to lose again. <br />She is possessed by time, who once <br />Was loved by men.<br /><br />Louise Bogan<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/portrait/
