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THE STRANGER, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: He passed from vision like a cloud
Last Line: From joy's excess!
Alternate Author Name(s): Launay, Vicomte Charles De; Gay, Delphine; Girardin Emile De
Subject(s): Love - Unrequited; Strangers


He passed from vision like a cloud,
Or wave that onward sweeps;
My heart that once was cold and proud
His image keeps.

One keen but fascinating glance
Enthralled my spell-bound eyes,
And since that moment of romance
Life's breath I prize.

Too daring and too rapturous
My self-communings seem;
I love him and to love him thus
Is joy supreme.

And yet in lonely hours, alas!
Mine eyes with tears are dim
To think my youthful years may pass
Apart from him.

He was the soul of which I dreamed,
For which I vainly pine;
The long-sought sister-soul that seemed
The twin of mine.

And I had found it—oh, my heart!
Thy throbbings I must quell;
'Tis hard from all we love to part
And cry, "Farewell."

But still, if pitying Heaven will deign
To aid us from above,
Hereafter, I shall meet again
My only love.

One moment let me hear him sigh
And feel his fond caress;
E'en were I doomed that hour to die
From joy's excess!





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