University of Virginia Library


112

ALONE! I LOVE TO BE ALONE.

Alone!—I love to be alone,
Wandering in silence, fancy-free,
By none addressed—approached by none—
For then, then, I am most with thee!
Thy voice of music fills the air,
Thy smile of beauty fills the sky,
And though thyself thou art not there,
The world is all thy memory!
Thy memory doth enchant—illume
The world within me and around;
Without that they were one blank gloom,
But with that they're as Eden found!
Alone! I would be oft alone,
And shapes unseen by others see;
And hear sweet voices heard by none—
Shapes?—voices?—nay! but thine—but thee!