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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!
Ah, 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 grey eye glances,
And where thy footstep gleams —
In what ethereal dances,
By what eternal streams.
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Notes:
Poe made two small changes to this text of the poem. In line 1, he transposed “all that” as ”that all,” and in line 23, near the end of the poem, he changed “dark” to “grey.”
For a detailed analysis of the changes made in this version, see the study text.
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[S:1 - RAOP-JLG, 1846-1849 (fac, 1942)] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Works - Poems - To One in Paradise (Text-14)