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THOU wast all that to me, love,
For which my soul did pine:
A green isle in the sea, love,
A fountain and a shrine,
5
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 [page 26:]
But to be overcast!
10
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
15
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,
20
Or the stricken eagle soar!
And all my days are trances,
And all my nightly dreams
Are where thy gray eye glances,
And where thy footstep gleams —
25
In what ethereal dances,
By what eternal streams.
[The following note appears at the bottom of page 25:]
* These stanzas, which were published several times with considerable variations, seem first to have seen the light as verses inserted in the tale entitled The Visionary (now The Assignation) in Godey's Lady's Book for January, 1834. As now printed in the tale they are supplied with a concluding stanza which adds nothing to the beauty of the poem, — a beauty which can be better felt than described.
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Notes:
None.
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[S:0 - WPT97, 1897 and 1898] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Works - Editions - To One in Paradise (W. P. Trent, 1897 and 1898)