“There is such power”

Arlo Bates (1850–1918)

From “Sonnets in Shadow”

THERE is such power even in smallest things

To bring the dear past back; a flower’s tint,

A snatch of some old song, the fleeting glint

Of sunbeams on the wave—each vivid brings

The lost days up, as from the idle strings

Of wind-harp sad a breeze evokes the hint

Of antique tunes. A glove which keeps imprint

Of a loved hand the heart with torture wrings

By memory of a clasp meant more than speech;

A face seen in the crowd with curve of cheek

Or sweep of eyelash our woe’s core can reach.

How strong is love to yearn, and yet how weak

To strive with fate: the lesson all things teach,

As of the past in myriad ways they speak.