Poems (Barker)/The Exiles Dream
The Exile's Dream.
I dreamed last night that it was gone, The weary pain of years;I dreamed the stain was washed away By my repentant tears.Again I felt a father's hand Laid gently on my head,And low and gentle were the words That he in blessing said.
My mother stood with out-stretched arms Extended to her boy,And sister Nellie's dark blue eyes Were filled with tears of joy.Again we gathered 'round the board, And smiles were on each face,And pleasure ruled the fleeting hours With her bewildering ways.
And when my father knelt in prayer Among that happy band,I fondly knelt at mother's side And clasped her loving hand,Just as I did in boyhood days Before the shadow cameThat blackened all our lives with woe, And stained the honored name.
And thick and fast my tear drops fell, As father prayed for all,And murmured "blest be thy dear name, For thou hast heard our call."But when we rose to say "good night," And Nellie kissed my brow,I felt the maddening pain again, Just as I feel it now.
For oh, I drank the sparkling wine! And fell beneath its power;I took the life I could not give In an unguarded hour;And though I fled from justice far, Through all these weary years,I've heard my father's bitter cry And seen my mother's tears.
Oh! ye who love the tempting glass, List to my pleading prayer,Turn from the maddening mocking spell! The murderer's fate beware!My life is filled with bitter woe, And stripped of pleasure's flowers;I only see the forms I love In dreamland's mystic hours.