A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass

Before Dawn

          Life!  Austere arbiter of each man's fate,
           By whom he learns that Nature's steadfast laws
           Are as decrees immutable; O pause
          Your even forward march!  Not yet too late
          Teach me the needed lesson, when to wait
           Inactive as a ship when no wind draws
           To stretch the loosened cordage.  One implores
          Thy clemency, whose wilfulness innate
           Has gone uncurbed and roughshod while the years
              Have lengthened into decades; now distressed
          He knows no rule by which to move or stay,
           And teased with restlessness and desperate fears
          He dares not watch in silence thy wise way
              Bringing about results none could have guessed.