Meeting in the Woods

Through ferns and moss the path wound to
A hollow where the touch-me-nots
Swung horns of honey filled with dew;
And where--like footprints--violets blue
And bluets made sweet sapphire blots,
’Twas there that she had passed I knew.

The grass, the very wilderness
On either side, breathed rapture of
Her passage: ’twas her hand or dress
That touched some tree--a slight caress--
That made the wood-birds sing above;
Her step that woke the flowers, I guess.

I hurried, till across my way,
Foam-footed, bounding through the wood,
A brook, like some wild child at play,
Went laughing loud its roundelay;
And there upon its bank she stood,
A sunbeam clad in forest gray.

And when she saw me, all her face
Bloomed like a wild-rose by the stream;
And to my breast a moment’s space
I gathered her; and all the place
Seemed conscious of some happy dream
Come true to add to Earth its grace:

Some union, that was Heav’n’s intent--
For which God made the world--the bliss,
The love, that raised her innocent
Young face to mine that, smiling, bent
And sealed her first words with a kiss--
As Love might close his testament.