Upon the road of my life,  
Passed me many fair creatures,  
Clothed all in white, and radiant.  
To one, finally, I made speech:  
"Who art thou?"  
But she, like the others,  
Kept cowled her face,  
And answered in haste, anxiously,  
"I am good deed, forsooth;  
You have often seen me."  
"Not uncowled," I made reply.  
And with rash and strong hand,  
Though she resisted,  
I drew away the veil  
And gazed at the features of vanity.  
She, shamefaced, went on;  
And after I had mused a time,  
I said of myself,  
"Fool!"
Stephen Crane
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/upon-the-road-of-my-life/