Now fancy paints that bygone day
When you were here, my fair -
The whole lake rang with rapid skates
In the windless, winter air.
*
You leaned to me, I leaned to you,
Our course was smooth as flight -
We steered - a heel-touch to the left,
A heel-touch to the right.
*
We swung our way through flying men,
Your hand lay fast in mine,
We saw the shifting crowd dispart,
The level ice-reach shine.
*
I swear by yon swan-travelled lake,
By yon calm hill above,
I swear had we been drowned that day
We had been drowned in love.
*
Robert Louis Stevenson, 1850-94
