As if a Phantom Caress’d Me

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. 5

by Walt Whitman