Fugitive Poetry. 1600–1878/The World of Dreams
The World of Dreams.
i.The world of fairy, wreath, and song, And elfin heaven of pearly ray,Oh, not to night alone belong Visions of beauty fair as they!
ii.They come by morn, they come by even, Where'er the young heart's pulses bound;Where love in love has found its heaven, There is the spirit's magic ground.
iii.Where souls are mingling into one, Life's flowers young foreheads garlanding;Where truth's sweet lyre awakes its tone, There is the spirit's magic ring.
iv.The treasured wealth of blissful dreams, The rich and glorious gift of youth—Oh false are they who say its beams Fade in the morning light of truth!
v.Beyond Telesmé's[1] haunted shade, And wizard stream, whose sluggish flowMurmurs from out the darkness made By leaves the day ne'er shines below;
vi.Far in the east, where oaks have frowned For ages o'er untrodden wastes,Where human step ne'er prints its ground, Nor human lip its waters tastes;
vii.A mountain rises, dark and lone, And 'mid its rocks, so legends say,Where nothing but the wild air's moan Is heard through all the dreamy day;
viii.There springs a fount whose waves are nought But drops of spell-encircled dew,That gives the drinker's brow and thought The glow of youth's unfading hue.
ix.Go search thy heart, a spring is there Whose hidden wave that spell will be—Go seek it, if thou wouldst youth's fair And holy lights should burn for thee.
x.Drink deeply of the sparkling fount Of passionate feeling, strong and true;Gather its waters as they mount Like moonlit drops of charmed dew;—
xi.Cherish it—youth's fair world of dreams! Cherish it even by love's excess;And feed its warm and rosy beams With trusting faith, devotedness.
xii.Cherish the vision lest it part, And bind it by affection's chain;Ay! lean upon a kindred heart Too trustingly—'tis not in vain.
xiii.For it will shed o'er years to comeThe rosy glow of life's first light,And in its glad and guarded home,Will keep the lyre of feeling bright.
xiv.Then tell ns not the dream will fade;Youth's fairy world, with glowing sky—Go drink the wave in the heart's deep shade;And life's romance will never die.
- ↑ For a description of the enchanted mountain Telesmé, from which the word alisman is derived, vide Beauchamp.