C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.

Seeking

IN many a shape and fleeting apparition,

Sublime in age or with clear morning eyes,

Ever I seek thee, tantalizing Vision,

Which beckoning flies.

Ever I seek Thee, O evasive Presence,

Which on the far horizon’s utmost verge,

Like some wild star in luminous evanescence,

Shoots o’er the surge.

Ever I seek Thy features ever flying,

Which, ne’er beheld, I never can forget:

Lightning which flames through love, and mimics dying

In souls that set.

Ever I seek Thee through all clouds of error;

As when the moon behind earth’s shadow slips,

She wears a momentary mask of terror

In brief eclipse.

Ever I seek Thee, passionately yearning;

Like altar fire on some forgotten fane,

My life flames up irrevocably burning,

And burnt in vain.