William Ernest Henley (1849–1903)

ON the way to Kew,

By the river old and gray,

Where in the Long Ago

We laugh’d and loiter’d so,

I met a ghost to-day,

A ghost that told of you—

A ghost of low replies

And sweet inscrutable eyes

Coming up from Richmond

As you used to do.

By the river old and gray,

The enchanted Long Ago

Murmur’d and smiled anew.

On the way to Kew,

March had the laugh of May,

The bare boughs look’d aglow,

And old immortal words

Sang in my breast like birds,

Coming up from Richmond

As I used with you.

With the life of Long Ago

Lived my thought of you.

By the river old and gray

Flowing his appointed way

As I watch’d I knew

What is so good to know:

Not in vain, not in vain,

I shall look for you again

Coming up from Richmond

On the way to Kew.