(To Howard and Lucy Hinton)
The loveliest lovers that I know
1
Wear on their heads two crowns of snow;
It is a fashion of the hair
Upon their heads both brave and fair.
Their beauty, more from day to day,
5
Time gave, but cannot take away.
A girlish bloom her face still wears,
But no girl in a thousand years
Had ever yet a face like hers;
Nor any youth at twenty's prime
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Glanced like this emperor of Time.
Ah, girl, entranced before your glass,
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If but for you the years shall pass
As for this twain, you need not fear
For all this beauty now so dear;
For it shall grow a fairer thing.
16
Now 'tis a blank unmeaning page,
That doth but callow boys engage;
The nobler meanings Time shall bring,
The lovely writing of the soul,
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As on some bright illumined scroll,
Shall tell a golden story there;
And lovelier still your face shall be,
Of lasting sweets the honeyed hive,
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Though you should then be eighty-three,
And he, your love, be eighty-five.