The sun plays odd in sky today
And this I’m not sure how to take –
Pursue it, you could say I have;
I met him, and bore witness to
The break above such weary hills
As ever have been known to be:
They clung to warmth, and light, and lost
The battle, as they always had –
For me, he left their somber crowd
To paint horizon crimson gold;
Through amber mist, I almost saw
A chariot, as in the days
Of old they spun such vivid tales:
I thought to spin one of my own,
And yes! How wonderful a fate
If parting purple never need
Be shown again – a selfish prize,
I know, but human arrogance
Gives rise to novel fantasy,
And so I sought to take after
His dance, and pluck him from it, once
The music of the day had ceased;
And question if, within his will,
Or if it were within his strength,
At least, that he may not depart –
And so I’ve made a point to ask,
Though long days he eluded me,
In dark and mist and cloud, until
At last, when in the autumn chill
Bent low enough along his route
For me to reach his ear – and when
I posed my question, he replied,
“Look out – see all I’ve risen for,
And all whose limbs I’ve yet to light;
You’ll see then why I cannot stay.”
So I looked out, and to my soul’s
Delight found glow I hadn’t thought
Existed in a simple world;
The foxes stretched; the buttercup
Turned up its face and followed suit;
I whirled – for there behind me lay
The rocky shore at river’s end –
Such common stones, but even these
Were made to glint and stipple-shine
By tendrils from my captive’s breath;
And seeing then how many more
Would shrink and keel for want of such
A spell, I knew that things must stay
Before just as they were — and so,
With scarce a parting word, I let
Him go. Seeing I understood,
He grinned, and turned, and fell away
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