Collected poems, 1901-1918/Reverie

by Walter De la Mare

MEMORIES OF CHILDHOOD

REVERIE

Bring not bright candles, for his eyes
In twilight have sweet company;
Bring not bright candles, else they fly —
His phantoms fly —
Gazing aggrieved on thee!

Bring not bright candles, startle not
The phantoms of a vacant room,
Flocking above a child that dreams —
Deep, deep in dreams, —
Hid, in the gathering gloom!

Bring not bright candles to those eyes
That between earth and stars descry,
Lovelier for the shadows there,
Children of air,
Palaces in the sky!