Rendezvous

To-night I passed the silent empty house Where years ago we danced the hours away;- Now nothing stirred—unless some little mouse Fearing my footsteps—fled where shadows lay; Even the garden gate is padlocked fast As though to hold within the lovely past.

Still there are lilacs scenting all the air, And in the moonlight ghostly weeds grow tall; Wild musk and rosemary are everywhere;— Through tangled grass the fireflies flash and fall; The silver dogwood is in bloom again, And lifts its stars up to your window pane.

It seems so little while since you were here With all those joyous ones we used to know;— Yet only I come back—my dear—my dear— For you have gone where summer roses go; And I come back as one who walks in sleep A rendezvous with his young dreams to keep.