When I Was a Child

WHEN I was a child the moon to me
Through the nursery curtains seemed to be
A thing of marvel and witchery.
The slim white crescent floating high
In the lucid green of the western sky
Was a fairy boat, and the evening star,
A light on the land where the fairies are.

When I was a woman the moon to me
(Whose life was a pledge of what life might be)
Was a thing of promise and prophecy.
When from my window I saw it set,
In the twilight my lashes with tears were wet;
Yet my heart sang ever because I knew
That from your window you watched it too.

And now, O my Love, the moon to me
(Who think of what was, and was not to be)
Is a thing of heartbreak and memory.
When I see its crescent white and slim,
The empty present of life grows dim;
And its pale young gold is the hoop of troth
That, stronger than Death is, binds us both.

A. E. F.