As If a Phantom Caress'd Me
by Walt Whitman
· 1867
Published 01/07/1867
AS if a phantom caress'd me,
I thought I was not alone, walking here by the shore;
But the one I thought was with me, as now I walk by the shore, the one I loved that caress'd me,
As I lean and look through the glimmering light— that one has utterly disappear'd,
And those appear that are hateful to me, and mock me.