Obscure and little seen my way
Through life has ever been
But winding from my earliest day
Through many a wondrous scene
None ever asked what feelings moved
My heart, or flushed my cheek
And if I hoped or feared or loved
No voice was heard to speak

I watched, I thought, I studied long
The crowds I moved unmarked among
I nought to them and they to me
But shapes of strange variety
The Great with all th' illusive shine
Of power — and wealth, and lofty line
I long have marked and well I know