The Sign-Post

One hazel lost a leaf of gold

From a tuft at the tip, when the first voice told

The other he wished to know what ’twould be

To be sixty by this same post. “You shall see,”

He laughed—and I had to join his laughter—

“You shall see; but either before or after,

Whatever happens, it must befall,

A mouthful of earth to remedy all

Regrets and wishes shall freely be given;

And if there be a flaw in that heaven

’Twill be freedom to wish, and your wish may be

To be here or anywhere talking to me,

No matter what the weather, on earth,

At any age between death and birth,

To see what day or night can be,

The sun and the frost, the land and the sea,

Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring,—

With a poor man of any sort, down to a king,

Standing upright out in the air

Wondering where he shall journey, O where?”