Too Late

     We met too late!

Ah, little girl, I wonder why

     Till now we never met?

Why fate has planned so cruelly

     A life of deep regret?

I wonder why our hearts ne’er bade

     Us until now, to wait;

A heavenly earth – we might have had, –

     Alas! we met too late.

     We met too late!

We met, we loved, in that first glance

     We read each other’s heart;

And now we love the more, perchance,

     Because we’re forced apart.

You to your life and I to mine,

     To grieve and sigh and wait;

When every hour should be divine, –

     Alas! we met too late.

Aug. 11, 1894

Pub. in B. Courier,

Sept. 2, 1894