J.E. Carpenter & W.T. Wrighton 1864
Jeff Warner wrote in 2001: "My parents Frank and Anne Warner got this song from Eleazar Tillett (1875-1968) in 1951. The Tilletts, a fishing family, lived in Wanchese, North Carolina, on the Outer Banks. The song was composed in circa 1864 and went into oral tradition."
Countercurrent: https://countercurrentmusic.bandcamp.com/track/her-bright-smile-skating-on-the-harborfront
It’s been a year since last we met,
We may never meet again.
I have struggled to forget
But the struggle was in vain.
For her voice lives on the breeze,
And her spirit comes at will,
In the midnight on the seas
Her bright smile haunts me still.
I have sailed ‘neath alien skies,
And I’ve trod the desert path,
I have seen the storm arise
Like a giant in his wrath.
Every danger I have known
That a reckless life can fill,
No, her presence is not flown,
Her bright smile haunts me still.
At the first sweet dawn of light,
When I gaze upon the deep,
Her form still greets my sight
While the stars their vigil keep.
When I close my aching eyes
Sweet dreams my memory fill,
And from sleep when I arise
Her bright smile haunts me still.