Can You?

Can you put the spider's web back in place

That once has been swept away?

Can you put the apple again on the bough

Which fell at our feet today?

Can you put the lily-cup back on the stem

And cause it to live and grow?

Can you mend the butterfly's broken wing

That you crush with a hasty blow?

Can you put the bloom again on the grape

And the grape again on the vine?

Can you put the dewdrops back on the flowers

And make them sparkle and shine?

Can you put the petals back on the rose?

If you could, would it smell as sweet?

Can you put the flour again in the husk,

And show me the ripened wheat?

Can you put the kernel again in the nut,

Or the broken egg in the shell?

Can you put the honey back in the comb,

And cover with wax each cell?

Can you put the perfume back in the vase

When once it has sped away?

Can you put the corn-silk back on the corn,

Or down on the catkins, say?

You think my questions are trifling, lad,

Let me ask you another one:

Can a hasty word be ever unsaid,

Or a deed unkind, undone?