Spencer Heath Archive

Item 574

Adaptation of a poem by Lola S. Morgan entitled, “Regret is Brief,” retitled “Passing.” Numerously typed on small papers for carrying in a wallet. No date

 

PASSING

You may regret me yet a little while

But not too deeply nor with grief more long

Than the soft echo of a vanished song

Within your heart — a reminiscent smile.

‘Twas word and world you sought more than the heart.

The secret soul must falter seeking so —

Now yielding, now withholding, to and fro,

Demanding all while ill content with part.

If we had joy and laughter for a day

Let us be thankful for it though we sigh

For more to come; and if no dreams can stay

They no less bless us with their passing by.

Let us not rue them, lest they be more brief;

If joys prove passing, darling, so does grief.

 

 

/The original follows:/

 

    REGRET IS BRIEF

You may regret me for a little while

But not, I think, so deeply nor so long

As to leave more than shadows of a song

Upon your heart, and these traced with a smile.

It was my words you wanted, not my heart.

The seeking, secret soul should never go

Stripped of its pride and wandering to and fro

Asking the ultimate — its counterpart.

If I gave laughter to you for a day

Or for a year, let us be glad, for I

Was happy too; and if no dream can stay,

It is enough we touched one passing by.

You may regret me, but regret is brief.

Though joy is transient, darling, so is grief.

Lola S. Morgan