Yesterday we walked apart,
Separate and cold and mortal.
Now the mystic kiss has joined us,
Now we stand inside the portal
That permits of no returning,
And my heart is strangely burning.
I know not what the word may be,
Or what the charm, or what the token,
That has filled us with this glory.
But never let the charm be broken.
Let it stay a mystery
For all time to be.
Yesterday, with lighter joys,
We wantoned at the outer portal.
Now, with love’s old alchemy,
We have made ourselves immortal.
From On a Grey Thread (Will Ransom, 1923) by Elsa Gidlow. This poem is in the public domain.