 | Lays of Leisure Hours |  |
NEVER AGAIN OH! HEART!
Never again Oh! Heart—that once believed,Canst thou thus sweetly, brightly be deceived—
How once thou feastedst on thy full-blown dream,
That dream that swift departed beam by beam,
And left thee from its radiant trammels free
To Life and Life's abhorred Reality!
Small comfort 'tis to me that now I know
My fancied joys did from false sources flow.
That now I know 'twas but Illusion all,
Which I was fain my Happiness to call!
What mattered it to me that 't was not true,
Since nought beyond the darling cheat I knew,
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Since I was utterly and all deceived.
Oh! let me be again deceived and blest,
Force back the Falsehood, and restore the rest!
The lost delights revive—the dream renew,
The false we trust is truer than the true—
For while it lasts 'tis all indeed our own,
Our Soul its element—our heart its throne!
The outward World's cold breath there may not come,
The mind enspheres it in a Star-like home.
In our existence it exists—derives
Its food from our strong fancy—while it lives
The Life of living souls—intense, supreme—
And what hath truth to give worth such a Dream?
Yes! while it lasts it is ourselves—and we
Must doubt our life ere its Reality!
And oh! 'tis real! 'tis truer than the true!
Our own Possession and Creation too!
But let us wake not—close the willing eye—
Dream—dream and be deceived—dream on—and die!
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