They Wandered Forth

They wandered forth in springtime woods,
Three women, thickly hung
With yards and yards of woollen goods—
To play that they were young!

The river raced with the racing air;
The woods were wild with song;
The glad birds darted everywhere—
And so they walked along!

Stiff-bodied, fat, oppressed with cloth,
Dull-colored, sad to see,
Slow-moving over the bright grass,
Their shapeless shadows fall and pass,
And dreaming not—alas! alas!
Of what dear life might be!