The Last Leaf

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1. I SAW him once before,
2. As he passed by the door,
3. And again
4. The pavement stones resound,
5. As he totters o'er the ground
6. With his cane.
7.  
8. They say that in his prime,
9. Ere the pruning-knife of Time
10. Cut him down,
11. Not a better man was found
12. By the Crier on his round
13. Through the town.
14.  
15. But now he walks the streets,
16. And he looks at all he meets
17. Sad and wan,
18. And he shakes his feeble head,
19. That it seems as if he said,
20. "They are gone."
21.  
22. The mossy marbles rest
23. On the lips that he has prest
24. In their bloom,
25. And the names he loved to hear
26. Have been carved for many a year
27. On the tomb.
28.  
29. My grandmamma has said--
30. Poor old lady, she is dead
31. Long ago--
32. That he had a Roman nose,
33. And his cheek was like a rose
34. In the snow.
35.  
36. But now his nose is thin,
37. And it rests upon his chin
38. Like a staff,
39. And a crook is in his back,
40. And a melancholy crack
41. In his laugh.
42.  
43. I know it is a sin
44. For me to sit and grin
45. At him here;
46. But the old three-cornered hat,
47. And the breeches, and all that,
48. Are so queer!
49.  
50. And if I should live to be
51. The last leaf upon the tree
52. In the spring,
53. Let them smile, as I do now,
54. At the old forsaken bough
55. Where I cling.