Firelight

Ten years together without yet a cloud 

They seek each other's eyes at intervals 

Of gratefulness to firelight and four walls 

For love's obliteration of the crowd. 

Serenely and perennially endowed 

And bowered as few may be, their joy recalls 

No snake, no sword; and over them there falls 

The blessing of what neither says aloud. 

Wiser for silence, they were not so glad 

Were she to read the graven tale of lines 

On the wan 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.

- Robinson