Grains Of Time Slip – I Stand Like A Fool Poem by Emmanuel George Cefai

Grains of time slip – I stand like a fool
Or like a phantom for my cheeks grow white
The clock is nigh to strike mid-night
And elves and goblins wild will soon teem here.

The water-mill is running with subdued
And ever-decreasing water-gurglings-low
Still the glow-worms amidst the grasses shine
Like distant planets in cloud of gas
And elves and goblins wild will soon teem here.

Ah! beauty to wrinkles turneth: strength
To trembling palsy turneth irreversible:
And high - on high the north star shines and smiles:
The village-church and village-homes slumber
And cats and dogs and hens and geese
And sheep and all the rest founder in sleep
And elves and goblins wild will soon teem here.