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[page 1, column 7, continued:]
Thou wast that all to me, love,
For which my soul did pine —
A green isle in the sea, love, —
A fountain and a shrine
All wreathed with fairy fruits and flowers
And all the flowers were mine.
Ah, dream too bright to last!
Oh, starry Hope! that didst arise
But to be overcast!
A voice from out the Future cries
“On! on!” — but o'er the Past
(Dim gulf!) my spirit hovering lies
Mute, motionless, aghast!
For, alas! alas! with me
The light of Life is o'er!
No more — no more — no more
(Such language holds the solemn sea
To the sands upon the shore)
Shall bloom the thunder-blasted tree,
Or the stricken eagle soar!
And all my days are trances,
And all my nightly dreams
Are where thy dark eye glances,
And where thy footstep gleams —
In what ethereal dances
By what eternal streams.
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Notes:
This poem is quoted as part of a biographical article on Poe. (The present version of the poem is identical with the February 25, 1843 text, except for the exchange of an exclamation point for a semi-colon inthe first line of the second stanza..)
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[S:1 - PSM, 1843 (photocopy)] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Works - Poems - To One in Paradise (Text-09b)