The Hand of Time

BY ‘KETAKI’

If Life were one long Wreath of Roses
Strung on a thread of Love:
If Life were one long Rope of Pearls
Strung on a String of Love:
If Life were one long Chain of Thrills
Held by Links of Love:
I would wish for a Wreath of Roses
I would pray for a String of Pearls.
I would long for a Chain of Thrills
I would ask for a Life of Love.

It was a beauteous Crimson Rose
Fill’d to the Lips with sweet Perfume.
The Night was still: aloft, the Moon
Glow’d and shone like a lovely lamp.
Night stood still atop the hill
Holding her breath. On a sudden,
There wafted forth a breath of air;
A gentle, tender touch of love.
The Rose, she swoon’d in ecstasy.
The vale was fill’d with sweet perfume,
The breath and bloom of a beautiful life
Heap’d on the Shrine of Love:
The Incense of a loving heart
Burning on Love’s Altar.

Such a lovelit night it was
When you look’d on me.
Can one forget the glad surrender
On that night of love?
When you kiss’d me, time stood still.
The magic of the moonlight
I found in your eyes.
The very air was so perfumed
My eyes grew faint with ecstasy.
The breath of roses sweetened the air
The moonlight glister’d around like Pearls.

My frame was thrill’d at your approach
Like the mighty Earth at the touch of Spring.
You and I walked hand in hand
In the path of Love.
Silver gleam’d the milky river,
The flowers look’d like stars.
The mighty earth, the moon, the stars,
Stood still like painted pictures.

The Wheel of Time has gone full round.
The Moon, a ghost of her former self,
Sinks pallid in the western sky.
The Hand of Frost has hurt the Rose,
Her blush is gone for ever.
The perfum’d breath of the moonlit night
Has vanished all too soon.
It is now the icy winter gale
Moaning in the caves,
Wailing like a wounded god
On the Shores of Love,
Searching for a Souvenir
From the Wreck of Life.

Life is a Wreath of Roses
Strung on a Thread of Pain:
Life is a Rope of Pearls
Strung on a String of Pain:
Life is a Chain of Thrills
Held by Links of Pain:
It’s no matter: Life is Love.
The breath of love is the breath of life,
We must love, or die.

The Summer air may change her tune,
The Music lingers on:
The moonlit night may change to grey,
The Magic lingers on:
The lovelit night is a thing of the past,
The thrill, it lingers on:
The Hand of Time may break the Vase,
The Perfume lingers on.