Your Face

I strolled beside the sea today

     My heart lay full of care;

I looked out on the ocean wide

And saw it not, across the tide

     Your face was everywhere.

Last night I dreamed a dream of old,

     With pomp and splendor rare;

Fair faces gleamed where lights were shed,

But from the dismal rooms I fled –

     Your face it was not there.

Your face – my only beacon light,

     I crave for that alone;

And life were but a dreary waste,

Devoid of color, sense and taste

     Till it were all my own.

Aug. 4, 1901