DREAMS.
"Dost thou believe in dreams! I asked my Friend;
But then he answered quickly, "Would that I
Could learn that gentle Faith! to certainty
Turn all that Hope dares faintly apprehend!
Then would Life's richest colours meet and blend
Together, fused as in a Tropic sky
That hath no clouds; then Life would utterly
For all its wrongful doings make amend;
For Life hath brought me partings, but in Rest
Are only meetings! for the waking hours
Have trampled in their flight upon my flowers;
But Sleep's kind hand still gathers them again
From bowers remote, and binds them on my breast,—
I dare not stir for fear to break their chain!"
But then he answered quickly, "Would that I
Could learn that gentle Faith! to certainty
Turn all that Hope dares faintly apprehend!
Then would Life's richest colours meet and blend
Together, fused as in a Tropic sky
That hath no clouds; then Life would utterly
For all its wrongful doings make amend;
For Life hath brought me partings, but in Rest
Are only meetings! for the waking hours
Have trampled in their flight upon my flowers;
But Sleep's kind hand still gathers them again
From bowers remote, and binds them on my breast,—
I dare not stir for fear to break their chain!"
February 13.
