A little while, a year agone, <br />I knew her for a romping child, <br />A dimple and a glance that shone <br />With idle mischief when she smiled. <br /> <br />To-day she passed me in the press, <br />And turning with a quick surprise <br />I wondered at her stateliness, <br />I wondered at her altered eyes. <br /> <br />To me the street was just the same, <br />The people and the city's stir; <br />But life had kindled into flame, <br />And all the world was changed for her. <br /> <br />I watched her in the crowded ways, <br />A noble form, a queenly head, <br />With all the woman in her gaze, <br />The conscious woman in her tread.<br /><br />Archibald Lampman<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-mystery-of-a-year/
