_________________________

7.

A DREAM.

1

In visions of the dark night
    I have dream'd of joy departed —
But a waking dream of life and light
    Hath left me broken hearted:

2

And what is not a dream by day
    To him whose eyes are cast
On things around him with a ray
    Turn'd back upon the past?

3

That holy dream — that holy dream,
    While all the world were chiding,
Hath cheer'd me as a lovely beam
    A lonely spirit guiding:

4

What tho' that light, thro' storm and night
    So trembled from afar —
What could there be more purely bright
    In Truth's day-star? —

________________________________________________________

A Dream.

I N visions of the dark night
    I have dreamed of joy departed —
But a waking dreams of life and light
    Hath left me broken-hearted.

Ah! what is not a dream by day
    To him whose eyes are cast
On things around him with a ray
    Turned back upon the past?

That holy dream — that holy dream,
    While all the world were chiding,
Hath cheered me as a lovely beam
    A lonely spirit guiding.

What though that light, thro' storm and night,
    So trembled from afar —
What could there be more purely bright
    In Truths day-star?                                    P.

Três versões para o mesmo poema. A primeira, de 1827 (ainda sem título), a segunda, de 1829 e a terceira de 1845.