Askest 'How long thou shall stay?' <br />Devastator of the day! <br />Know, each substance and relation <br />Thorough nature's operation, <br />Hath its unit, bound, and metre, <br />And every new compound <br />Is some product and repeater, <br />Product of the early found. <br />But the unit of the visit, <br />The encounter of the wise, <br />Say what other metre is it <br />Than the meeting of the eyes? <br />Nature poureth into nature <br />Through the channels of that feature. <br />Riding on the ray of Sight, <br />More fleet than waves or whirlwinds go, <br />Or for service or delight, <br />Hearts to hearts their meaning show, <br />Sum their long experience, <br />And import intelligence. <br />Single look has drained the breast, <br />Single moment years confessed. <br />The duration of a glance <br />Is the term of convenance, <br />And, though thy rede be church or state, <br />Frugal multiples of that. <br />Speeding Saturn cannot halt; <br />Linger,— thou shall rue the fault, <br />If Love his moment overstay, <br />Hatred's swift repulsions play.<br /><br />Ralph Waldo Emerson<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-visit-8/
