Page:Poems Greenwell.djvu/98

A SONG OF MEMORY.

Here it was I saw her last:
 When the farewells all were said,
Through the garden speeding fast
 She o'ertook me breathless, led
By some gentle after-thought,
 That she spoke not yet, but smiled
As I stooped to set me free
 From a wild-briar clinging, "See,
This kind weed to stay thee sought,
 Yet wilt thou break from it and me;"
Then she clasped me, smiling still
 Through the shining of a tear,
"Come and go, dear friend, at will,
 Comfort still thou leavest here;
Should the future days bereave,
 Never with a chiding sore
Can the bygone bid us grieve
 That we loved not in them more!"

So we parted where we stood
 In the ancient gateway; then
As I hurried down the wood,
 Once I turned to look again