Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922.
PrescienceThomas Bailey Aldrich (18361907)
T
The sun was low in the west,
And my betroth’d and I
In the churchyard paused to rest—
Happy maiden and lover,
Dreaming the old dream over:
The light winds wander’d by,
And robins chirp’d from the nest.
Was the grave of a little child,
With a crumbling stone at the feet,
And the ivy running wild—
Tangled ivy and clover
Folding it over and over:
Close to my sweetheart’s feet
Was the little mound up-piled.
She shrank and clung to me,
And her eyes were fill’d with tears
For a sorrow I did not see:
Lightly the winds were blowing,
Softly her tears were flowing—
Tears for the unknown years,
And a sorrow that was to be!