From the Rock Island Argus, May 20, 1914. By Henry Howland.
“I wonder if you know how fair
You make the world for me?
I wonder if you know that where
You are I long to be?
Your smile is like the morning sun
That gladdens all below;
When you appear the day’s begun,
But when we part the day is done—
I wonder if you know or care,
I wonder if you know?”
(He wonders if she knows or cares;
Why should he ever doubt it?
The lovelorn, longing look he wears
Has told her all about it.
Although he never tells her so,
He may be sure that she will know;
Love needs no speech—long, long ago
Love learned to do without it.)
“I wonder if you ever guess
That when you linger near
The world is filled with loveliness,
That when you leave ’tis drear?
For you, sweetheart, it is that all
The fairest breezes blow,
And from the skies the stars would fall
Responsive to your witching call;
You smile to gladden and to bless—
I wonder if you know?”
(He wonders if his sweetheart knows
Or has the wit to guess it;
He tells it everywhere he goes
His looks and sights confess it;
He thinks her lips forbidden fruit,
Ah, let him cease from being mute,
And boldly, bravely press his suit—
She longs for him to press it.)