The sunshine on the long white road Again the shadowed pool shall break And if he is not quite so old
That ribboned down the hill,
The velvet clematis that clung
Around your window-sill
Are waiting for you still.
In dimples at your feet,
And when the thrush sings in your wood,
Unknowing you may meet
Another stranger, Sweet.
As the boy you used to know,
And less proud, too, and worthier,
You may not let him go -
(And daisies are truer than passion-flowers)
It will be better so.
— “Hédauville”, Roland Leighton, November 1915, quoted in Vera Brittain’s “Testament of Youth”. (Leighton, Brittain’s fiancé, was killed in December of that year)
