IN CARNIVAL

The Database of Ornament

OUT of the multitudinous hours
            Of life sealed fast for us by fate,
            Are any hours that yet await
Our coming, worthy to be ours ?

Life, in her motley, sheds in showers
    The rose of hours still delicate,
    But you and I have come too late
Into the Carnival of Flowers.

For us the roses are scarce sweet,
And scarcely swift the flying feet
    Where masque to masque the moments call ;

All has been ours that we desired,
And now we are a little tired
            Of the eternal carnival.

                                                                             ARTHUR SYMONS