“I WAS NOT HE” (SONG)
Reading edition
I was not he—the man Who used to pilgrim to your gate, At whose smart step you grew elate, And rosed, as maidens can, For a brief span.
It was not I who sang Beside the keys you touched so true With note-bent eyes, as if with you It counted not whence sprang The voice that rang . . .
Yet though my destiny It was to miss your early sweet, You still, when turned to you my feet, Had sweet enough to be A prize for me!