| |
| BY the waters of Life we sat together, | |
| Hand in hand in the golden days | |
| Of the beautiful early summer weather, | |
| When skies were purple and breath was praise, | |
| When the heart kept tune to the carol of birds, | 5 |
| And the birds kept tune to the songs which ran | |
| Through shimmer of flowers on grassy swards, | |
| And trees with voices æolian. | |
| |
| By the rivers of Life we walked together, | |
| I and my darling, unafraid; | 10 |
| And lighter than any linnet’s feather | |
| The burdens of being on us weighed. | |
| And Love’s sweet miracles o’er us threw | |
| Mantles of joy outlasting Time, | |
| And up from the rosy morrows grew | 15 |
| A sound that seemed like a marriage chime. | |
| |
| In the gardens of Life we strayed together; | |
| And the luscious apples were ripe and red, | |
| And the languid lilac and honeyed heather | |
| Swooned with the fragrance which they shed. | 20 |
| And under the trees the angels walked, | |
| And up in the air a sense of wings | |
| Awed us tenderly while we talked | |
| Softly in sacred communings. | |
| |
| In the meadows of Life we strayed together, | 25 |
| Watching the waving harvests grow; | |
| And under the benison of the Father | |
| Our hearts, like the lambs, skipped to and fro. | |
| And the cowslip, hearing our low replies, | |
| Broidered fairer the emerald banks, | 30 |
| And glad tears shone in the daisy’s eyes, | |
| And the timid violet glistened thanks. | |
| |
| Who was with us, and what was round us, | |
| Neither myself nor my darling guessed; | |
| Only we knew that something crowned us | 35 |
| Out from the heavens with crowns of rest; | |
| Only we knew that something bright | |
| Lingered lovingly where we stood, | |
| Clothed with the incandescent light | |
| Of something higher than humanhood. | 40 |
| |
| O the riches Love doth inherit! | |
| Ah, the alchemy which doth change | |
| Dross of body and dregs of spirit | |
| Into sanctities rare and strange! | |
| My flesh is feeble and dry and old, | 45 |
| My darling’s beautiful hair is gray; | |
| But our elixir and precious gold | |
| Laugh at the footsteps of decay. | |
| |
| Harms of the world have come unto us, | |
| Cups of sorrow we yet shall drain; | 50 |
| But we have a secret which doth show us | |
| Wonderful rainbows in the rain. | |
| And we hear the tread of the years move by, | |
| And the sun is setting behind the hills; | |
| But my darling does not fear to die, | 55 |
| And I am happy in what God wills. | |
| |
| So we sit by our household fires together, | |
| Dreaming the dreams of long ago: | |
| Then it was balmy summer weather, | |
| And now the valleys are laid in snow. | 60 |
| Icicles hang from the slippery eaves; | |
| The wind blows cold,—’t is growing late; | |
| Well, well! we have garnered all our sheaves, | |
| I and my darling, and we wait. | |
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