The smiles of the bathers fade as they leave the water, <br />And the lover feels sadness fall as it ends, as he leaves his love. <br />The scholar, closing his book as the midnight clock strikes, is hollow <br /> and old: <br />The pilot's relief on landing is no release. <br />These perfect and private things, walling us in, have imperfect and <br /> public endings-- <br />Water and wind and flight, remembered words and the act of love <br />Are but interruptions. And the world, like a beast, impatient and <br /> quick, <br />Waits only for those who are dead. No death for you. You are <br /> involved.<br /><br />Weldon Kees<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-smiles-of-the-bathers/
