Irene's Dream
The ignorant craving spirit of mankind
Shall travel to that unknown Something which
Has no name yet, nor history. . . . .
For tales and feeble fancies fill its place—
But shall be found yet when the time is ripe,
And man's intelligence, with every age
Doubling and trebling its once laboured pace,
Shall soon move boldly to its awful goal.
So to that Future I send up my thoughts,
If e'er these garden bounds seem strait to me,
And live at large in the whole Universe.
Flor. You seem to me the prophetess of Death
And not the priestess of a living Faith.
But tell me more of this dream-teaching.
Irene.Much
I feel and could not tell—taught without words.
Flor. How did you learn to make the creatures love you?
This very dog has felt the spell and broken
His faith to me for you.
Irene.It was my mother—
The mother of my dreams—for oft she used
To visit me and take me by the hand—
With smiles so sweet as sometimes made indeed
My heart to ache with longing when I waked—
And led me round the garden, showing me
The lovely kinship of its various growths,
Shall travel to that unknown Something which
Has no name yet, nor history. . . . .
For tales and feeble fancies fill its place—
But shall be found yet when the time is ripe,
And man's intelligence, with every age
Doubling and trebling its once laboured pace,
Shall soon move boldly to its awful goal.
So to that Future I send up my thoughts,
If e'er these garden bounds seem strait to me,
And live at large in the whole Universe.
Flor. You seem to me the prophetess of Death
And not the priestess of a living Faith.
But tell me more of this dream-teaching.
Irene.Much
I feel and could not tell—taught without words.
Flor. How did you learn to make the creatures love you?
This very dog has felt the spell and broken
His faith to me for you.
Irene.It was my mother—
The mother of my dreams—for oft she used
To visit me and take me by the hand—
With smiles so sweet as sometimes made indeed
My heart to ache with longing when I waked—
And led me round the garden, showing me
The lovely kinship of its various growths,
145
