Page:Poems Rice.djvu/130

TO AN UNKNOWN PORTRAIT.

WE never have met, I know not the name,
 Yet strangely familiar thy face;
What of thy history, or what of thy fame,
 I find not a word, not a trace.
Thy pardon I crave, if bold I do seem,
 This pertinent question to ask;
Perchance we have met, have met in a dream,
 But when? will the future unmask?

O where is thy home? say, dwellest thou near,
 In city, or mountain, or dale?
Where are thy kindred, the loved and the dear—
 Wilt thou the mystery unveil?
Gaze not on me thus, but speak, I implore,
 In candor the story declare;
Where art thou straying? I ask thee once more;
 This silence I never could bear.

What power possessing, what magic, my friend—
 For a friend thou truly must be—
For my wondering spirit so proud, to unbend
 To render a tribute to thee;