I wandered through a careless world <br />Deceived when not deceiving, <br />And never gave an idle heart <br />The rapture of believing. <br />The smiles, the sighs, the glancing eyes, <br />Of many hundred comers <br />Swept by me, light as rose-leaves blown <br />From long-forgotten summers. <br /> <br />But never eyes so deep and bright <br />And loyal in their seeming, <br />And never smiles so full of light <br />Have shone upon my dreaming. <br />The looks and lips so gay and wise, <br />The thousand charms that wreathe them, <br />Almost I dare believe that truth <br />Is safely shrined beneath them. <br /> <br />Ah! do they shine, those eyes of thine, <br />But for our own misleading? <br />The fresh young smile, so pure and fine, <br />Does it but mock our reading? <br />Then faith is fled, and trust is dead, <br />And unbelief grows duty, <br />If fraud can wield the triple arm <br />Of youth and wit and beauty.<br /><br />John Hay<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/blondine/
