Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By Richard WatsonGilder

906 Songs

NOT from the whole wide world I chose thee,

Sweetheart, light of the land and the sea!

The wide, wide world could not inclose thee,

For thou art the whole wide world to me.

Years have flown since I knew thee first,

And I know thee as water is known of thirst;

Yet I knew thee of old at the first sweet sight,

And thou art strange to me, Love, tonight.