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Text: Edgar Allan Poe, “To —— [Elmira]” (Text-04), Broadway Journal, vol. II, no. 11, September 20, 1845, p. 164, col. 1

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[page 164, column 1, towards the bottom:]

To ——

The bowers whereat, in dreams, I see

The wantonest singing birds,

Are lips — and all thy melody

Of lip-begotten words —

Thine eyes, in Heaven of heart enshrined

Then desolately fall,

O God! on my funereal mind

Like starlight on a pall —

Thy heart — thy heart! — I wake and sigh,

And sleep to dream till day

Of the truth that gold can never buy —

Of the baubles that it may.

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Notes:

This version is nearly identical to that published about the same time in The Raven and Other Poems, 1845, with the addition only of “the” in the second to last line.

In the Broadway Journal, the poem appears without signature, but directly follows Poe's signed story “The Landscape Garden.”

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[S:1 - BJ, 1845] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Works - Poems - To ——[Elmira] (Text-04)