Queen Berengaria's Courtesy, and Other Poems By the Lady E. Stuart Wortley. In Three Vols |
 | I, II, III. |
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HAPPY VISIONS. |
 | Queen Berengaria's Courtesy, and Other Poems |  |
HAPPY VISIONS.
I stood there silently; the brooding airSeemed full of some o'erpowering Presence there;
In thought I passed this life's dull narrow bounds,
And marked the more than mortal sight and sounds;
And as I listened with an awe intense
Heard heavenly murmurings with half-heavenly sense,
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That seemed itself with powers unearthly fraught:
All things grew loftier then of earth and time,
Then grew mine own existence more sublime:—
If this be dreaming, dreams of such rich worth
Alone can reconcile to barren earth!
But was I dreaming then? Or was't indeed
That thou, my soul, from dull, harsh fetters freed,
Wert more awakened to the truth of things,
More strongly buoyed on thy immortal wings,
More full of fervour and of feeling true,
Than is thy wont—thus roused to raptures new!
Still if I was but dreaming—then oh! then
Let me ne'er wake, or never dream again!
Fair Visions! ye were lovely as the sky,
Flowering with all its stars, to my rapt eye!
Ye're vanished; but my soul still pants and heaves,
Even with a swell such as the tempest leaves
Upon the troubled bosom of the sea,
When all but that is in tranquillity!
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Once more the Vision in its pomp returns:
With happy tremours all my heart-strings thrill;
With burning hope my pulse seems bounding still.
Oh! 'tis too much in such a world as this
To dream e'en of such pure and perfect bliss!
Depart, ye dazzling Visions! hence! depart!
With soaring transports faints my fervent heart;
With dear emotions are these eyelids wet.
Fly! fly for ever!—yet, ah! fly not yet!
| Queen Berengaria's Courtesy, and Other Poems | |