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Henry Jackson Van Dyke, Jr. had many notable friends, including Mark Twain (he officiated at Twain’s funeral) and Helen Keller. Also among his circle of friends was Spencer and Katrina Trask, a remarkable couple — with ties to Princeton and Thomas Edison — whose estate near Saratoga Springs, New York, was known as Yaddo. On that estate a garden was built with a sundial for which Van Dyke wrote an inscription, which has since become one of his most famous poetic works. The poem he wrote was, in part, read at Princess Diana’s 1997 funeral. It is the second half, often referred to as “Time Is,” which is most remembered and is perhaps most beloved. It can be read in Music and Other Poems (1904).
Katrina Task’s sundial at Yaddo.
Katrina’s Sun-Dial
Hours fly.
Flowers die:
New days,
New ways:
Pass by!
Love stays.
Time is
Too Slow for those who Wait,
Too Swift for those who Fear,
Too Long for those who Grieve,
Too Short for those who Rejoice;
But for those who Love,
Time is not.
