I watched the glory of her childhood change,
Half-sorrowful to find the child I knew,
(Loved long ago in lily-time),
Become a maid, mysterious and strange,
With fair, pure eyes - dear eyes, but not the eyes I knew
Of old, in the olden time!
Till on my doubting soul the ancient good
Of her dear childhood in the new disguise
Dawned, and I hastened to adore
The glory of her waking maidenhead,
And found the old tenderness within her deepening eyes,
But kinder than before.
More verses by Ernest Christopher Dowson
- Cynara
- Spleen
- Beyond
- If We Must Part
- O Mors! Quam Amara Est Memoria Tua Homini Pacem Habenti In Substantiis Suis