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9.
Dim vales — and shadowy floods —
And cloudy-looking woods,
Whose forms we can’t discover
For the tears that drip all over.
Huge moons there wax and wane —
Again — again — again —
Ev’ry moment of the night —
For ever changing places —
And they put out the star-light
With the breath from their pale faces; [page 70:]
About twelve by the moon-dial
One, more filmy than the rest
[A sort which, upon trial,
They have found to be the best]
Comes down — still down — and down
With its centre on the crown
Of a mountain's eminence,
While its wide circumference
In easy drapery falls
Over hamlets, and rich halls,
Wherever they may be —
O’er the strange woods — o'er the sea —
Over spirits on the wing
Over every drowsy thing —
And buries them up quite
In a labyrinth of light —
And then, how deep! O! deep!
Is the passion of their sleep!
In the morning they arise,
And their moony covering
Is soaring in the skies,
With the tempests as they toss, [page 71:]
* Like —— almost any thing —
Or a yellow Albatross.
They use that moon no more
For the same end as before —
Videlicet a tent —
Which I think extravagant:
Its atomies, however,
Into a shower dissever,
Of which those butterflies,
Of Earth, who seek the skies,
And so come down again,
(The unbelieving things!)
Have brought a specimen
Upon their quivering wings.
[The following footnote appears at the bottom of page 71:]
* Plagiarism — see the works of Thomas Moore — passim — Edr.
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Notes:
In his Poems of 1831, Poe radically changed this poem and moved the first several lines into “Al Aaraaf.” In reprinting the poem in his The Raven and Other Poems of 1845, he ignored these changes and restored much of the earlier version.
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[S:1 - ATMP, 1829 (fac, 1933)] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Works - Poems - Fairyland (Text-02)