 | Carol and Cadence |  |
YOU AND I.
Far away, far away,
In the sun-setting sky,
Past the darkening day,
Past the westering beams,
Far from labour and life,
Far from smile and from sigh,
Far from struggle and strife,
In the bottomless blue,
Where the stars rise and set,
Where the Old is the New,
Where men sleep and forget,
On the shores of the streams,
Where oblivions lie,
We were born, you and I,
In the Island of Dreams.
In the sun-setting sky,
Past the darkening day,
Past the westering beams,
Far from labour and life,
Far from smile and from sigh,
266
In the bottomless blue,
Where the stars rise and set,
Where the Old is the New,
Where men sleep and forget,
On the shores of the streams,
Where oblivions lie,
We were born, you and I,
In the Island of Dreams.
We are exiles, we two,
In this world of the night,
Where the sun is a ghost
And a semblance the light:
We have nothing to do
With its ban and its boast,
With its Gods, though long dead,
That yet darken Heaven's height,
Blot the stars from our sight.
Our least is its most
And our poison its bread:
We are strangers outright
To the wildering wraiths
Of its hope and its dread,
To its phantoms of faiths.
In this world of the night,
Where the sun is a ghost
And a semblance the light:
We have nothing to do
With its ban and its boast,
With its Gods, though long dead,
That yet darken Heaven's height,
Blot the stars from our sight.
Our least is its most
And our poison its bread:
We are strangers outright
To the wildering wraiths
Of its hope and its dread,
To its phantoms of faiths.
Is our exile etern?
Shall we never again
Leave this dungeon of earth,
Where we languish, we twain?
Shall we never return
To the land of our birth?
Will not Death set us free,
Through his portal, the stern,
To the palm-studded plain
And the mere with its girth
Of gold-blossoming lea,
Where the appletrees rain,
In the memoried track,
By the murmuring sea,
You and me, to go back?
Shall we never again
Leave this dungeon of earth,
Where we languish, we twain?
Shall we never return
To the land of our birth?
Will not Death set us free,
Through his portal, the stern,
To the palm-studded plain
And the mere with its girth
Of gold-blossoming lea,
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In the memoried track,
By the murmuring sea,
You and me, to go back?
Nay, I fear me, too long
Have we dwelt here below.
Night neareth; 'tis late
And Day's taper burns low.
We are weak; Life is strong
And no light in Death's gate
Is to guide us aright,
Nor a bird with its song
Bids us whither to go.
Can our visions elate
Have been blotted outright
By Life's perishing show?
Can it be, we, in truth,
Have forever lost sight
Of the dreams of our youth?
Have we dwelt here below.
Night neareth; 'tis late
And Day's taper burns low.
We are weak; Life is strong
And no light in Death's gate
Is to guide us aright,
Nor a bird with its song
Bids us whither to go.
Can our visions elate
Have been blotted outright
By Life's perishing show?
Can it be, we, in truth,
Have forever lost sight
Of the dreams of our youth?
Alas, our heart's gold
Have we squandered in vain!
We have bartered away
For false pleasure true pain:
Our hopes are grown cold
And our heads fallen grey.
Nay, however we yearn
For our pleasaunce of old,
How our eyes though we strain,
Yet no longer we may
The way thither discern.
Since What Is we were fain
To exchange for What Seems,
We shall never return
To the Island of Dreams.
Have we squandered in vain!
We have bartered away
For false pleasure true pain:
Our hopes are grown cold
And our heads fallen grey.
Nay, however we yearn
For our pleasaunce of old,
How our eyes though we strain,
Yet no longer we may
The way thither discern.
Since What Is we were fain
To exchange for What Seems,
We shall never return
To the Island of Dreams.
| Carol and Cadence | |