[[v]]

[[n]]

Take this kiss upon thy brow!

And, in parting from you now,

[[n]]

Thus much let me avow —

[[n]]

You are not wrong, to deem

5

That my days have been a dream;

[[v]]

Yet if Hope has flown away

In a night, or in a day,

In a vision, or in none,

Is it therefore the less gone? [page 27:]

10

[[v]]

All that we see or seem

[[n]]

Is but a dream within a dream.

 

[[v]]

I stand amid the roar

[[v]]

[[n]]

Of a surf-tormented shore,

[[v]]

And I hold within my hand

15

[[v]]

[[n]]

Grains of the golden sand —

[[v]]

How few! yet how they creep

Through my fingers to the deep,

[[v]]

While I weep — while I weep!

O, God! can I not grasp

20

Them with a tighter clasp? [page 28:]

O, God! can I not save

One from the pitiless wave?

Is all that we see or seem

But a dream within a dream?

(1827)

A dark unfathom’d tide

Of interminable pride —

A mystery, and a dream,

Should my early life seem;

5

I say that dream was fraught

[[n]]

With a wild, and waking thought

[[n]]

Of beings that have been,

[[n]]

Which my spirit hath not seen, [[.]]

 

[[n]]

Had I let them pass me by, [page 27:]

10

With a dreaming eye!

[[n]]

Let none of earth inherit

That vision on [[of]] my spirit;

Those thoughts I would controul, [[control]]

As a spell upon his soul:

15

For that bright hope at last

And that light time have past,

And my worldly rest hath gone

[[n]]

With a sight [[sigh]] as it pass’d on,

I care not tho’ it perish

20

With a thought I then did cherish.

1.

 

Should my early life seem,

[As well it might,] a dream —

Yet I build no faith upon

The king Napoleon —

5

I look not up afar

For my destiny in a star:

 

2.

 

In parting from you now

Thus much I will avow —

There are beings, and have been

10

Whom my spirit had not seen

Had I let them pass me by

With a dreaming eye —

[[n]]

If my peace hath fled away

In a night — or in a day —

15

In a vision — or in none —

Is it therefore the less gone? — [page 27:]

 

3.

 

I am standing 'mid the roar

Of a weather-beaten shore,

And I hold within my hand

20

Some particles of sand —

How few! and how they creep

Thro’ my fingers to the deep!

My early hopes? no — they

Went gloriously away,

25

Like lightning from the sky

[[n]]

At once — and so will I. [page 28:]

 

4.

 

So young? ah! no — not now —

Thou hast not seen my brow,

But they tell thee I am proud —

30

They lie — they lie aloud —

My bosom beats with shame

At the paltriness of name

With which they dare combine

A feeling such as mine —

35

Nor Stoic? I am not:

In the terror of my lot

I laugh to think how poor

That pleasure “to endure!”

What! shade of Zeno! — I!

40

Endure! — no — no — defy.