WAITING

Serene I fold my arms and wait,
   Nor care for wind, or tide, or sea:
I rave no more 'gainst time or fate,
   For lo! my own shall come to me.

I stay my haste, I make delays,
   For what avails this eager pace?
I stand amid the eternal ways,
   And what is mine shall know my face.

Asleep, awake, by night or day,
   The friends I seek are seeking me;
No wind can drive my bark astray,
   Nor change the tide of destiny.

What matter if I stand alone?
   I wait with joy the coming years;
My heart shall reap where it has sown,
   And garner up its fruit of tears.

The waters know their own, and draw
   The brook that springs in yonder height;
So flows the good with equal law
   Unto the soul of pure delight.

The floweret nodding in the wind
   Is ready plighted to the bee;
And, maiden, why that look unkind?
   For lo! thy lover seeketh thee.

The stars come nightly to the sky;
   The tidal wave unto the sea;
Nor time, nor space, nor deep, nor high
   Can keep my own away from me.

                     ~ John Burroughs