Richard Watson Gilder

"The Smile of her I love is like the dawn Whose touch makes Memnon sing: O, see where wide the golden sunlight flows— The barren desert blossoms as the rose!"

"Not from the whole wide world I chose thee— Sweetheart, light of the land and the sea! The wide, wide world could not inclose thee, For thou art the whole wide world to me."

"Through love to light! Oh wonderful the way That leads from darkness to the perfect day!"

"I love her doubting and anguish; I love the love she withholds; I love my love that loveth her And anew her being moulds."

"Heaven from the hopeless doubter The true believer makes: Against the darkness outer The light Gods likeness takes."

"O white and midnight sky, O starry bath, Wash me in thy pure, heavenly crystal flood: Cleanse me, ye stars, from earthly soil and scath— Let not one taint remain in spirit or blood!"