How to Make a Memory

The rain was ending, and light
  Lifting the leaden skies.
It shone upon ceiling and floor
  And dazzled a child’s eyes.
Pale after fever, a captive
  Apart from his schoolfellows,
He stood at the high room’s window
  With face to the pane pressed close,
And beheld an immense glory
  Flooding with fire the drops
Spilled on miraculous leaves
  Of the fresh green lime-tree tops.
Washed gravel glittered red
  To a wall, and beyond it nine
Tall limes in the old inn yard
  Rose over the tall inn sign.
And voices arose from beneath
  Of boys from school set free,
Racing and chasing each other
  With laughter and games and glee.
To the boy at the high room-window,
  Gazing alone and apart,
There came a wish without reason,
  A thought that shone through his heart.
I’ll choose this moment and keep it,
  He said to himself, for a vow,
To remember for ever and ever
  As if it were always now.