Leave him now Quiet by the Way

Leave him now quiet by the way

To rest apart.

I know what draws him to the dust alway

And churns him in the builder’s lime:

He has the fright of time.

I heard it knocking in his breast

A minute since;

His human eyes did wince,

He stubborned like the massive slaughter beast

And as a thing o’erwhelmed with sound

Stood bolted to the ground.

Leave him, for rest alone can cure—

If cure there be—

This waif upon the sea.

He is of those who slanted the great door

And listened—wretched little lad—

To what they said.