To see your face was once a common thing,
And hearing clear your laugh like crystal ring.
Or was it crystal? Flowing time, it seems,
Has summoned shadows long,
Has muddled mem’ry strong,
And made the times we laughed together dreams.

Or did I even see your face? Your eyes?
Or hear you laugh? The mem’ry swiftly flies
As dreams have flown from rising sun’s ascent
Which casts a shadow deep
And ends the glowing sleep
Wherein the purest dreams our minds invent.

O, was it all invented? Was it dreamed
Of buried hopes preserved but ne’er redeemed?
Or did they truly happen, all those days
Which made my heart to grin,
Which made me glow within,
And filled a dark’ning world with shining rays?

O may the wintry months before us pass
And heav’nly springtime find us both at last
And show my toiling heart in shade confined
If all was but in dreams
Or truly as it seems
Within my mind when mem’ry stares behind?

The latter I wish to believe is the truth,
That none of it dreaméd, but actual proof
That hope was allowed—
For once allowed—
To shine.

And in the meantime, please this rhyme peruse,
It’s self-absorbéd nature please excuse,
And tell me if it’s real,
This mem’ry that I feel,
Or help my mind to find more solid views.