University of Virginia Library


231

A POET'S THOUGHTS

The thoughts that haunt the poet like a dream,
Strange sweet ghost-shapes that through his fancy gleam,
Will one day haunt all hearts as well.
He fills the wide world with his love of flowers,
And with his love of summer sunlit hours,
And with his hate of hell.
The woman whom he loves and crowns shall stand
One day imperial over every land.
The passionate eyes that haunt his sleep
Shall one day flash upon the world, and make
(Not now the poet's, nay) the world's heart ache,
And make the world's eyes weep.
Whom he has crowned, is crowned. Whom he has raised
Shall in the end by all men's tongues be praised.
The carven brow he moulds for us

232

Before the world is ever statuesque.
The king or charlatan he makes grotesque
Shall be grotesque for ever,—alway thus.
While creeds and sub-creeds pass, his dreams endure.
All that he dreamed of tender things and pure,
All that he touched to beauty and bloom,
All that he loved with godlike love, shall last
When every star we see to-day has past,
Orb following orb, into eternal gloom.