Poems (Jackson)/Waiting

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For works with similar titles, see Waiting.
4579678Poems — WaitingHelen Hunt Jackson
WAITING.
I KNOW it will not be to-day;
I know it will not be to-morrow;
Oh, half in joy and half in sorrow,
  I watch the slow swift hours away;
  I bid them haste, then bid them stay,
  I long so for the coming day.

  I long so, I would rather wait;
Each hour I see the unseen comer;
Each hour turns ripe in secret summer
  The joys which I anticipate.
  O precious feet, come slow, come late!
  I long so, it is bliss to wait!

  Ah, sweet sad life, so far to-day!
Ah, sweet sad life, so near to-morrow!
Can joy be joy when we miss sorrow?
  When earth's last sun has rolled away
  In tideless time, and we can say
  No more, "To-morrow," or "To-day"?