I watched the glory of her childhood change,
Half-sorrowful to find the child I knew,
( Loved long ago in lily-time )
Become a maid, mysterious and strange,
With fair, pure eyes — dear eyes, but not the eyes I knew
Of old, in the olden time!
Till on my doubting soul the ancient good
Of her dear childhood in the new disguise
Dawned, and I hastened to adore
The glory of her waking maidenhood,
And found the old tenderness within her deepening eyes,
But kinder than before.