Perhaps you did not love me at the first

Though I was smitten when I caught your gaze

While calming doves within, did the best I durst

To find a voice with something wise to say.

You smiled a cryptic smile from ages past,

Of Cleopatra, Helen and Belinda—

While I betrayed a face as if aghast,

Fearing your sweet smile might be rescinded.

As hope decreed, the loveliness you wore

Appeared a moonlit presence by my side

And Selena, the Christian name you bore,

The mighty force that moved me like the tide.

Soon pure celestial joy pledged as my wife—

And as God bade, her light became my life.