What shall I do with all the days and hours That must be counted ere I see thy face? How shall I charm the interval that lowers Between this time and that sweet time of grace?

These lines voice the impatience and emotional suspension of longing: time becomes something to be “counted,” an obstacle to be endured before reunion. The speaker asks how to “charm” the interval—how to make waiting bearable through distraction, imagination, or art—yet the interval “lowers,” like a storm cloud, suggesting that separation darkens the present. The phrase “sweet time of grace” frames the anticipated meeting as a kind of benediction, implying that the beloved’s presence restores meaning and light. The poem thus turns a common experience (waiting for someone) into a meditation on time’s weight and the human need to transform empty duration into something livable.