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| SOMEWHERE in the world there hide | |
| Garden-gates that no one sees | |
| Save they come in happy twos,— | |
| Not in one, nor yet in threes. | |
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| But from every maiden’s door | 5 |
| Leads a pathway straight and true; | |
| Map and survey know it not,— | |
| He who finds, finds room for two! | |
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| Then they see the garden-gates! | |
| Never skies so blue as theirs, | 10 |
| Never flowers so many-sweet, | |
| As for those who come in pairs. | |
| |
| Round and round the alleys wind: | |
| Now a cradle bars the way, | |
| Now a little mound, behind,— | 15 |
| So the two go through the day. | |
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| When no nook in all the lanes | |
| But has heard a song or sigh, | |
| Lo! another garden-gate | |
| Opens as the two go by. | 20 |
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| In they wander, knowing not; | |
| “Five and twenty!” fills the air | |
| With a silvery echo low, | |
| All about the startled pair. | |
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| Happier yet these garden-walks: | 25 |
| Closer, heart to heart, they lean; | |
| Stiller, softer, falls the light; | |
| Few the twos, and far between. | |
| |
| Till, at last, as on they pass | |
| Down the paths so well they know, | 30 |
| Once again at hidden gates | |
| Stand the two: they enter slow. | |
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| Golden Gates of “Fifty Years,” | |
| May our two your latchet press! | |
| Garden of the Sunset Land, | 35 |
| Hold their dearest happiness! | |
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| Then a quiet walk again: | |
| Then a wicket in the wall: | |
| Then one, stepping on alone,— | |
| Then two at the Heart of All! | 40 |
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