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OH! that my young life were a lasting dream!
My spirit not awak’ning, till the beam
Of an Eternity should bring the morrow.
Yes! tho’ that long dream were of hopeless sorrow.
[[v]]
’Twere better than the cold reality
[[v]]
Of waking life, to him whose heart must be,
[[v]]
And hath been still, upon the lovely earth,
A chaos of deep passion, from his birth.
But should it be — that dream eternally
Continuing — as dreams have been to me
In my young boyhood — should it thus be giv’n
’Twere folly still to hope for higher Heav’n.
For I have revell’d when the sun was bright
[[v]]
In the summer sky, in dreams of living light.
[[v]]
And loveliness, — have left my very heart
Inclines [[In climes]] of my imaginings apart
From mine own home, with beings that have been
Of mine own thought — what more could I have seen?
[[v]]
’Twas once — and only once — and the wild hour
From my remembrance shall not pass — some pow’r
Or spell had bound me — ’twas the chilly wind
Came o’er me in the night, and left behind
Its image on my spirit — or the moon
Shone on my slumbers in her lofty noon
Too coldly — or the stars — howe’er it was
That dream was as that night-wind — let it pass.
[[v]]
I have been happy, tho’ in a dream.
I have been happy — and I love the theme: [page 119:]
Dreams! in their vivid colouring of life
As in that fleeting, shadowy, misty strife
Of semblance with reality which brings
To the delirious eye, more lovely things
Of Paradise and Love — and all our own!
Than young Hope in his sunniest hour hath known.
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Notes:
None.
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[S:0 - JHW11, 1911] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Works - Dreams (ed. J. H. Whitty, 1911)