The Inn of Dreams/Hylas

by Olive Custance

For works with similar titles, see Hylas.

Hylas

 

Dark boy, how radiantly you went to meetYour mystic doom . . . what colours in the sky!As though that cup of beauty the gods holdBrimmed over on a world in ecstasy . . .What silver flutes charmed all the forest ways . . .How the green shimmered, jewelled thick with flowers,And how the sun was like a globe of gold . . .Yet you but thought to chase the perfect hoursDown that white road of wonder and delight,The highway of your dreams, and heedlesslyYou crushed the violets with your slim brown feet, And whistled low, and sang a careless song . . .Because your life was full of lovely days,Because your life was delicate and sweet . . .O youth and dawn . . . you dreamed not of the night . . .O life and laughter . . . but the night is long . . .