Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry. 1904.
Poems of Friendship“Too late I stayed”
William Robert Spencer (1770–1834)T
Unheeded flew the hours:
How noiseless falls the foot of Time
That only treads on flowers!
The ebbings of this glass,
When all its sands are diamond sparks,
That dazzle as they pass?
Time’s happy swiftness brings,
When birds of paradise have lent
Their plumage to his wings?