I recollect that wondrous meeting, That instant I encountered you, When like an apparition fleeting, Like beauty's spirit, past you flew. Long since, when hopeless grief distressed me, When noise and turmoil vexed, it seemed Your voice still tenderly caressed me, Your dear face sought me as I dreamed. Years passed; their stormy gusts confounded And swept away old dreams apace. I had forgotten how you sounded, Forgot the heaven of your face. In exiled gloom and isolation My quiet days meandered on, The thrill of awe and inspiration, And life, and tears, and love, were gone. My soul awoke from inanition, And I encountered you anew, And like a fleeting apparition, Like beauty's spirit, past you flew. My pulses bound in exaltation, And in my heart once more unfold The sense of aw and inspiration, The life, the tears, the love of old.