AND you could leave me now-- <br />After the first remembered whispered vow <br />Which sings for ever and ever in my ears-- <br />The vow which God among His Angels hears-- <br />After the long-drawn years, <br />The slow hard tears, <br />Could break new ground, and wake <br />A new strange garden to blossom for your sake, <br />And leave me here alone, <br />In the old garden that was once our own? <br /> <br />How should I learn to bear <br />Our garden's pleasant ways and pleasant air, <br />Her flowers, her fruits, her lily, her rose and thorn, <br />When only in a picture these appear-- <br />These, once alive, and always over-dear? <br />Ah--think again: the rose you used to wear <br />Must still be more than other roses be <br />The flower of flowers. Ah, pity, pity me! <br /> <br />For in my acres is no plot of ground <br />Whereon could any garden site be found, <br />I have but little skill <br />To water weed and till <br />And make the desert blossom like the rose; <br />Yet our old garden knows <br />If I have loved its ways and walks and kept <br />The garden watered, and the pleasance swept. <br /> <br />Yet--if you must--go now: <br />Go, with my blessing filling both your hands, <br />And, mid the desert sands <br />Which life drifts deep round every garden wall, <br />Make your new festival <br />Of bud and blossom--red rose and green leaf. <br />No blight born of my grief <br />Shall touch your garden, love; but my heart's prayer <br />Shall draw down blessings on you from the air, <br />And all we learned of leaf and plant and tree <br />Shall serve you when you walk no more with me <br />In garden ways; and when with her you tread <br />The pleasant ways with blossoms overhead <br />And when she asks, 'How did you come to know <br />The secrets of the ways these green things grow?' <br />Then you will answer--and I, please God, hear, <br />'I had another garden once, my dear'.<br /><br />Edith Nesbit<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/at-parting-ii/
