Classic Poem

I SMILE — yet better might I sigh than smile —
At my young waywardness that wished to try
" Receipt of fern-seed " ; for some little while
To walk unseen of any prying eye.
I said 'twas but detachment that I sought,
To better know my own good comrade, Thought.

I added, I had made, must keep, the tryst
With Beauty, who had counseled Solitude —
I would be back again ere I was missed;
Whoever loved me would indulge my mood,
Nor would they strive the veiling charm to break,
Nor turn aside my hidden path to take.

And then, I moved untroubled by the crowd.
I softly stepped, and silence lapped me round.
I was but young — God knows I was not proud!
My venture was to me enchanted ground
Where I might pass unseen, but, soon as fain,
Into my human world return again.

I went my way, I kept me far from sight,
From jostling touch and ill-timed greeting free ...
I, who was more beholden to the night
Than any charm that could sequester me!
Now, deeper night and elder solitude
Begin to close around my errant mood.

And when I walk invisible, indeed,
Who knows, I may the genius be of all
Who out of trodden ways their spirit lead?
Then I will answer to their lonely call
Who, straying, have strayed wider than they wist,
Who walk invisible — and are not missed.