By The Still Water's Edge

I gazed down from the water's side
To see a silver gleam
And standing staring looked and tried
To see beyond the stream.
The clearest water sparkling, pure,
Below me stilled and calm;
Its cooling, soothing, fooling lure,
Seductive in its charm.

I saw a young man peering on
With eyes that conquered all.
But in a moment, he was gone ~
Uncanny, I recall.
Beneath the surface he was there,
A soul of twenty-four,
Then vanished in the swell somewhere
And left me by the shore.

Again, he came when it was staid
And braved another glance.
Yet, had I his acquaintance made
Some long by-go, by chance?
He spoke and told me in a rhyme
He yearned that he was me;
Though musing swept me back in time ~
I longed that I was he.