Work Without Hope

ALL Nature seems at work. Slugs leave their lair-

The bees are stirring-birds are on the wing-

And Winter, slumbering in the open air,

Wears on his smiling face a dream of Spring!

And I, the while, the sole unbusy thing,

Nor honey make, nor pair, nor build, nor sing.Yet well I ken the banks where amaranths blow,

Have traced the fount whence streams of nectar flow.

Bloom, O ye amaranths! Bloom for whom ye may,

For me ye bloom not! Glide, rich streams, away!

With lips unbrightened, wreathless brow, I stroll

And would you learn the spells that drowse my soul?Work without Hope draws nectar in a sieve,

And Hope without an object cannot live.