my enemy

An enemy I had, whose mien

I stoutly strive in vain to know;

For hard he dogged my steps, unseen,

Wherever I might go.

My plans he blocked; my aims he foiled;

He blocked my every onward way.

When for some lofty goal I toiled,

He grimly said me nay.

"Come forth!" I cried, "Lay bare thy guise!

Thy wretched features I would see."

Yet always to my straining eye

He dwelt in mystery.

Until one night I held him fast,

The veil from off his form did draw;

I gazed upon his face at last

And, Lo! myself I saw.

Edwin L. Sabin

(one of my very favorite poems)