GROWTH

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 maidenhood,

And found the old tenderness within her deepening eyes,

But kinder than before.