How Many Lives Are Too Many Lives To Live In One Life
How many lives may a single heart keep,
Before it grows weary of beating so wide?
One for the child who wandered in awe,
One for the lover who opened his eyes.
One for the dreamer who walked among stars,
Soft with the music the night-winds bring;
One for the mourner who knelt in the silence
Learning the weight of a sorrowed thing.
One for the soul that rose in the morning
Bright as the dew on a tremulous field;
One for the pilgrim who faltered at twilight
Asking what mercy the dark might yield.
Yet the heart is a house with uncountable rooms,
Each with a lamp and a different door—
Lives may gather like leaves in autumn,
Still there is space for one life not taken.
So ask not when the measure is taken,
Nor when the spirit has wandered too far;
For one life lived with a thousand awakenings,
Is only the echo of what we all are.
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