As The Ways Descend

I thought of a thousand things as I sat in the place
Where of old we sat ere time had wrinkled my face;
Now I could lean my cheek on your arm, the stress gone over,
My fmgers laid on your hand as a friendly lover.

For combat is ended, combat the gesture of youth;
Old sieges threaten no more with their pitiless ruth;
Only is left the heart, by its memories holden,
The rose on the far grey cloud, and the sunset golden.

What loomed and shook in the past shakes now no more;
Quiet lies on the sea, the rocks are far from the shore;
The bark is nearing at last the port of ending,
The watch called down from the peak, and the sails descend!

To some is given a calm in the younger years;
A kiss is only a kiss, not theirs the clamour that fears;
They can lean over the fence, safely linger and dally;
Not theirs the leaping of power at life's quick rally.

The tame lie free in the paddock; the fierce are chained and bar
Strained by an inward fever, restless, ever on guard—
Then how a touch can stir, or even a look can waken,
Till the terrible tides arise, and the house is shaken!

Storm is the blazon of youth, the old are quiet;
Strange is that blossoming time, the pulses riot;
But stranger the calm that comes as the ways descend,
When two, who would kiss, can part in peace, combat at en