There was, before me, <br />Mile upon mile <br />Of snow, ice, burning sand. <br />And yet I could look beyond all this, <br />To a place of infinite beauty; <br />And I could see the loveliness of her <br />Who walked in the shade of the trees. <br />When I gazed, <br />All was lost <br />But this place of beauty and her. <br />When I gazed, <br />And in my gazing, desired, <br />Then came again <br />Mile upon mile, <br />Of snow, ice, burning sand.<br /><br />Stephen Crane<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/there-was/
