noons
Therefore the high gods decreed that we should be brought to know the greatness of their gift , by losing it ; that in our lives to come we should be bound , and bound remain until we knew what we had lost . Thy bonds sit upon thee lightly , yet in thine eyes I read that they are there . And I -- I am learning fast what freedom means . In the shade of great trees which upheld the very floor of heaven we rested , thou and I , and saw the wide earth smiling in warm golden noons . It was then thy hands first learned to cling to mine '' -- he raised her hands and kissed them -- `` it was then thy head first leaned above my heart -- ay , even so long since , in the beginning of the world . Down all the after ages it hath been the same ; somewhere , somehow , we met ; and each time of our meeting there came to us a memory of dear dead days long gone , forgotten until a breath from dim gardens where we wandered blew to us from the past . Oh , but those days were long , each one a jewel of flame and azure , strung on the golden chain of Time ; and the nights were long , and warm , and clear , and perfumed as thy hair .