But she was only troubled by excess
Of happiness; and as she watched the stream,
She looked upon her life as in a dream,
Recalling all its tale of happiness
Unbroken and unshadowed, since she'd met
Her man the first time, eighteen months ago.
A keen blue day with sudden flaws of snow
And sudden sunshine, when she first had set
Her wondering eyes upon him-gaily clad
For football in a jersey green and red;
Knees bare beneath white shorts, his curly head
Wind-blown and wet-and knew him for her lad.
He strode towards her down the windy street-
The wet gray pavements flashing sudden gold
And gold the unending coils of smoke that rolled
Unceasingly overhead, fired by a fleet
Wild glint of glancing sunlight. On he came
Beside her brother-still a raw uncouth
Young hobbledehoy-a strapping mettled youth
In the first pride of manhood, that wild flame
Touching his hair to fire, his cheeks aglow
With the sharp stinging wind, his arms aswing:
And as she watched, she felt the tingling sting
Of flying flakes, and in a whirl of snow
A moment he was hidden from her sight.
It passed, and then before she was aware,
With white flakes powdering his ruddy hair
He stood before her, laughing in the light,
In all his bravery of red and green
Snow-sprinkled. And she laughed, too; in the sun
They laughed and in that laughter they were one.
Now, as with kindled eyes on the unseen
Gray river she sat gazing, she again
Lived through that moment in a golden dream.
And then quite suddenly she saw the stream
Distinct in its cold grimy flowing. Then
The present with its deeper happiness
Thrilled her afresh: this wonder strange and new;
This dream in her young body coming true-
Incredible, yet certain none the less;
This news, scarce broken to herself, that she
Must break to him. She longed to see his eyes
Kindle to hear it, happy with surprise
When she should break it to him presently.
But she must wait a while yet. Still too strange,
Too wonderful for words, she could not share
Even with him her secret. He sat there
So quietly, little dreaming of the change
That had come over her. But when he knew!-
For he was always one for bairns, was John,
And this would be his own, their own. There shone
A strange new light on all since this was true.
All, all seemed strange: the river and the shore,
The barges and the wharves with timber piled,
And all her world familiar from a child,
Was as a world she'd never seen before.
And he too sat with eyes upon the stream,
Remembering that day when first the light
Of her young eyes, with laughter sparkling bright,
Kindled to his; and as he caught the gleam
The life within him quickened suddenly
To fire, and in a world of golden laughter
They stood alone together; and then after,
When he was playing with his mates and he
Hurtled headlong towards the goal, he knew
Her eyes were on him; and for her alone,
Who had the merriest eyes he'd ever known
He played that afternoon. Though until then
He'd only played to please himself, somehow
She seemed to have a hold upon him. Now,
No longer a boy, a man among grown men,
He'd never have a thought apart from her,
From her, his mate.
And then that golden night
When, in a whirl of melody and light,
Her merry brown eyes flashing merrier,
They rode together in a gilded car
That seemed to roll forever round and round,
In a blind blaze of light and blare of sound,
For ever and for ever, till afar
It seemed to bear them from the surging throng
Of lads and lasses happy in release
From the week's work in yards and factories-
For ever through a land of light and song
While they sat, rapt in silence, hand in hand,
And looked into each other's merry eyes:
They two, together, whirled through Paradise,
A golden glittering, unearthly land;
A land where light and melody were one;
And melody and light, a golden fire
That ran through their young bodies; and desire,
A golden music streaming from the sun,
Filling their veins with golden melody
And they together, with so much to tell,
So much to tell each other instantly,
Left the hot throng and roar and glare behind,
Seeking the darker streets, and stood at last
In a dark lane where footsteps seldom passed-
Lit by a far lamp and one glowing blind
That seemed to make the darkness yet more dark
Between the cliffs of houses, black and high,
That soared above them to the starry sky,
A deep blue sky where spark on fiery spark
The stars for them were kindled, as they raised
Their eyes in new-born wonder to the night;
And in a solitude of cold starlight
They stood alone together, hushed, and gazed
Into each other's eyes until speech came:
And underneath the stars they talked and talked.
Then he remembered how they two had walked
Along a beach that was one golden flame
Of yellow sand beside a flame-blue sea―
The day they wedded, that strange day of dream,
One flame of blue and gold.
Flowed once again before his eyes, and he
Dropped back into the present; and he knew
That he must break the news that suddenly
Had come to him last night, as drowsily
He lay beside her-startling, stern and true
Out of the darkness flashing. He must tell
How, as he lay beside her in the night,
His heart had told him he must go and fight,
Must throw up everything he loved so well
To go and fight in lands across the sea
Beside the other lads-must throw up all,
His work, his home.
Fell on her once again, and stridently
That hammer struck her heart, as from the stream
She raised her eyes to his, and saw their flame.
Then back into her heart her glad news came
As John smiled on her; and her golden dream
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