LONG AGO
Ah, once your quiet eyes were calm and deep
And wistful with much dreaming; long ago
Your solemn lips, so innocent of woe
And delicately parted, seemed to keep
A secret still unsaid, and murmured low:
But that was long ago.
And I, who saw and loved you from afar,
Prayed a hushed prayer, the first I ever prayed,
That God might keep you safe; and unafraid
I looked up through the night at my one star,
Moving mysteriously and bright-arrayed.
And silently I prayed.
While you passed singing tenderly and low,
Wandering through life’s meadows with slow tread,
Death laid his kiss on your belovèd head:
But that was long ago.