University of Virginia Library

I dreamt a dream last night so fair
That it hath not vanish'd all the day,
But hangeth yet in the mid-noon glare,
Like a sunny mist o'er a landscape bare,
Making it beautiful and gay.

I dreamt that we travelled merrily,
(We three—my brother and sister and I,)
Merrily on in a foreign land,
Where the sun was warm, and the breeze was cool,
And the mountains rose up on either hand,
And the valley between was beautiful.
Gaily we travelled on in the sun,
And we watched the glorious mountains rise,
Backward and backward, 'till that far one
Whose icy point shot into the skies:—
And one said, ‘That way our journey lies.’
And we thought how wonderful it would be
When up on that shining rock to see
Over the West the sunset glow,
And the mountain summits all ranged below,
And the road we had travelled merrily.

But suddenly in our wondering mood
We came to the edge of a little wood;
And we drove straight thro' on the springy moss,
And the shade was silent and dark and green,
And the boughs so thickly were twined across
That little the blue sky seen between.
And then we came to a virgin lake,
Where never the fall of a weary breeze
The image of margin-mosses brake
Round the mighty roots of the ancient trees.
And as, I ween, you may chance to see
In some quaint book of Mythology
An Ocean-god in his car of shell
Cleaving the waters that round him swell,—
So with one bold plunge we brake the spell,
And shattered the quiet imagery.
And we rode thro' the waters swift and strong,
With a mighty purpose and steadfast gaze,
Dashing the crystals that trembled along
To the very marge with a million rays.
And a joy and a triumph and conscious might
Rested serene, as a crown of gold,
On the upward brow that was bent so bold
On the distant Alp with its rosy light,
Over the green trees rosy-white.
And many times did we peer below
Where the waters were brighter than those that flow
Under the walls of Zurich town
To the blue lake evermore gushing down.
And we saw the mosses golden and brown
In a tiny forest deep away
Distinct with delicate branch and spray.
And over the sunny surface wide
There swam and swung with a pearly light,
Like birds on the sea at eventide,
Great flocks of water-lilies white;
Yet not like others, but fairer far,
For their delicate wings all seemed to be
Gleaming with light transparently,
And crowned in the midst with a golden star.
And oh! it was childlike joy to part
The shining water with down-stretched hand,
And to see the broken surface start
And wide in glittering curves expand.
And on, and on, all adown the lake
We clove the waters and left our wake,
All before us as strangely still
As the future that hideth its good and ill,
And all behind us trembling on
In the misty sunlight that slanting shone,
Like a memory soft of things that are gone.
And methought, when the evening light was o'er,
And the folded shadows came dimly down,
We sat and talked on the quiet shore
Of the glorious Alp with its snowy crown.
And the peace of the present was pure and deep,
And the hope of the future was calmly bright:
And oh! I would that the dream of sleep
Had its counterpart in the hours of light!
For methinks 'twere easy to twine my song
With a moral sweet and a lesson true,
Of blending the near and distant view,
And charming the road, as we travel along,
With a lofty aim and a purpose strong.