Poems (Kennedy)/Old Calendar

by Sara Beaumont Kennedy

THE OLD CALENDAR

A SHEAF of days this ribbon held,
  A whole long year
Of shade and shine and snow and bloom
  Was gathered here
    On this old calendar.

It dwindled slowly, leaf by leaf;
  Just like a rose
Whose full-blown petals seek the sod
  Was each day's close
    On this old calendar.

And now—the end. And there is left
  For witness brief,
The painted scroll and silken band
  That held the sheaf
    On this old calendar.

But somewhere, sometime we will find
  The gathered leaves
Bound in a record of our lives—
  The chaff and sheaves
    On this old calendar.