Pity me not because the light of day
At close of day no longer walks the sky;
Pity me not for beauties passed away
From field and thicket as the year goes by
Pity me not the waning of the moon
Nor that the ebbing tide goes out to sea
Nor that a man's desire is hushed so soon
And you no longer look with love on me

This have I known always: love is no more
Than the wide blossom which the wind assails;
Than the great tide that treads the shifting shore
Strewing fresh wreckage gathered in the gales
Pity me that the heart is slow to learn
What the swift mind beholds at every turn