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.
by Walt Whitman
Written around 1891. 63 reads.