 | Lays of Leisure Hours |  |
69
BEAUTIFUL DREAMS.
Beautiful Dreams! Oh! stay, but stay,Why do ye fleet so soon away?
My Soul demands ye back again!
Will ye not come then—come and reign
O'er all its energies and powers,
Damped in this gloomy world of ours?
And only in their strength unbound,
When ye are girding it around,
When ye are lifting from its sense
The weight of mortal hours' suspense!
All shapes of Beauty and Delight
Crowd round your path, like Stars round night!
Dreams—dreams come back again to me,
Or take my Soul away with ye!
70
The Mind hath supernatural power,
Raised high above our mortal doom,
Unconsciously we then become
Creators—full of power and might—
Of Worlds on Worlds—that roll in light—
And make a Universe apart—
Though soon these from their orbits start,
And dimly wane and faintly shrink,
And darkly disappear and sink.
Surely ye are sent to us to show
Our power is more than we may know,
That glory without wane or end
Shall yet our Spirit-steps attend!
That we shall yet claim for our own
Things lofty, wond'rous, and unknown!
Dreams—dreams come back again to me,
Or bear my Soul far hence with ye!
| Lays of Leisure Hours | |