To a Passer-by

  Around me thundered the deafening noise of the street,
  In mourning apparel, portraying majestic distress,
  With queenly fingers, just lifting the hem of her dress,
  A stately woman passed by with hurrying feet.

  Agile and noble, with limbs of perfect poise,
  Ah, how I drank, thrilled through like a Being insane,
  In her look, a dark sky, from whence springs forth the hurricane,
  There lay but the sweetness that charms, and the joy that destroys.

  A flash—then the night.... O loveliness fugitive!
  Whose glance has so suddenly caused me again to live,
  Shall I not see you again till this life is o'er!

  Elsewhere, far away ... too late, perhaps never more,
  For I know not whither you fly, nor you, where I go,
  O soul that I would have loved, and that you know!