Text: Edgar Allan Poe, “To — —” (Comparative Text - Wilmer-MS and ATMP)

 

Title: TO —— ——

 

Stanza: 1

 

Line-01-001: Should my early life seem,

Line-01-002: [As well it might] a dream —

Line-01-003: Yet I build no faith upon

Line-01-004: The king Napoleon —

Line-01-005: I look not up afar

Line-01-006: {{1828-01: To //1829-02: For }} my destiny in a star:

 

Stanza: 2

 

Line-01-007: In parting from you now

Line-01-008: Thus much I will avow —

Line-01-009: There are beings, and have been

Line-01-010: Whom my spirit had not seen

Line-01-011: Had I let them pass me by

Line-01-012: With a dreaming eye —

Line-01-013: If my peace hath fled away

Line-01-014: In a night — or in a day —

Line-01-015: In a vision — or in none —

Line-01-016: Is it {{1829-02: therefore }} the less gone? —

 

Stanza: 3

 

Line-01-017: I am standing 'mid the roar

Line-01-018: Of a weather-beaten shore,

Line-01-019: And I hold within my hand

Line-01-020: Some particles of sand —

Line-01-021: How few! and how they creep

Line-01-022: Thro’ my fingers to the deep!

Line-01-023: My early hopes? no — they

Line-01-024: Went gloriously away,

Line-01-025: Like lightning from the sky

Line-01-026: At once — and so will I.

 

Stanza: 4

 

Line-01-027: So young? ah! no — not now —

Line-01-028: Thou hast not seen my brow,

Line-01-029: But they tell thee I am proud —

Line-01-030: They lie — they lie aloud —

Line-01-031: My bosom beats with shame

Line-01-032: At the paltriness of name

Line-01-033: With which they dare combine

Line-01-034: A feeling such as mine —

Line-01-035: Nor Stoic? I am not:

Line-01-036: In the terror of my lot

Line-01-037: I laugh to think how poor

Line-01-038: That pleasure “to endure!”

Line-01-039: What! shade of Zeno! — I!

Line-01-040: Endure! — no — no — defy.