 | Phantasmagoria |  |
33
The Magians Dream.
A magian saw a golden dream
With eyes of fire and plumes of snow,
That back upon his soul did seem
An echo of himself to throw.
With eyes of fire and plumes of snow,
That back upon his soul did seem
An echo of himself to throw.
He wakened with a sudden shriek,
For he had seen his soul's ideal,
Which he was doomed henceforth to seek
Among the mazes of the real.
For he had seen his soul's ideal,
Which he was doomed henceforth to seek
Among the mazes of the real.
He crossed the earth from pole to pole,
Sounded each sea, and scaled each height,
But never to his thirsting soul
That dream vouchsafed a second sight.
Sounded each sea, and scaled each height,
But never to his thirsting soul
That dream vouchsafed a second sight.
Then to the Seventh Heaven he scaled,
And, by the sea of beryl green,
An angel grasped his wrist, and haled
Him cowering to a curtained screen—
And, by the sea of beryl green,
An angel grasped his wrist, and haled
Him cowering to a curtained screen—
“Hither, and let thy breast be steeled
To look upon thy soul's desire!”
He drew the curtain, and revealed
A skeleton with eyes of fire.
To look upon thy soul's desire!”
He drew the curtain, and revealed
A skeleton with eyes of fire.
March 14th, 1886.
| Phantasmagoria | |