Ten years together without yet a cloud, They seek each other's eyes at intervals¹ Of gratefulness to firelight and four walls For love's obliteration² of the crowd. Serenely³ and perennially⁴ endowed And bowered⁵ as few may be, their joy recalls No snake, no sword； and over them there falls The blessing⁶ of what neither says aloud.

    Wiser for silence, they were not so glad Were she to read the graven tale of lines On the wan⁷ face of one somewhere alone； Nor were they more content could he have had Her thoughts a moment since of one who shines Apart, and would be hers if he had known.