  HOW good to remember Life’s June from September, The days that were fairer than ever again; When hearts held no sorrow to last o’er the morrow And heads were brimful of the wisdom of ten; No skies were e’er bluer, no heart was e’er truer Than mine when I waited in sunshine or rain With joy that enriched me for one who bewitched me And bade me to wait till she came down the lane. Our trysting-place gaining, my eyes they were straining Afar down the road, and my lips hummed a tune That held all the sweetness of first love’s completeness The whiles that I waited at morning and noon; For last when we parted, beloved, fond hearted, She pledged me to wait for her, sunshine or rain, And so I kept humming, I knew she was coming, A girl queen in gingham, somewhere down the lane. And there with a vision of futures Elysian I traced both our names with my toe in the dust, And not a temptation could alter my station As knight of the faithful heart, true to its trust. WITH ecstasy thrilling, I heard a far trilling So sweeter than bird song, and heard it again, The heart of the maiden, care-free and joy-laden, Was borne on the music I heard down the lane. Ah, who knows the story of Life and its glory, The unending bliss of the days that were then; And who knows the sweetness of first love’s completeness Who has not the wisdom of thirteen and ten? For back went a trilling to her that was spilling Its burden of gladness through all of the air, With infinite yearning her message returning To show I was true and awaited her there. Oh, hearts that are older, what secrets I told her! What dreams of the future, of grown girl and boy! For what of the weather, when two walk together The pathway to school in the heyday of joy? When hours are but measures of innocent pleasures, When days brim with gladness, as winecups to drain, When Life learns the sweetness of first love’s completeness In waiting for Her as she comes down the lane! |
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