Before You Came

Marjorie Meeker

Before you came
A word you said
Ran through my days
Like living flame.

It was not you—
It was a name
For loveliness…
And yet it drew

Your self for me
So that I knew
Your mood, your smile,
All you must be.

Oh, long ago
I dreamed you so—
Subtle as flame,

And cold as frost,
And mine, and lost
Before you came.