Lit2Go

One day as I walked through the woodland
And along by the banks of the stream,
—I surprised—in the depths of the gleam—
The Spirit that governs the woodland
In the midst of a wonderful dream.

So still was the heart of the forest,
And so faintly I felt of its breath,
  —’Twas hushed as one holding her breath—
That I feared in my musings—for lest
  —The dream be the dreaming of death.

But as the breath of life on a mirror
Of one deemed to be passing away,
  O’er the stream—as faint flushing of gray—
Moved the spirit, ebbing nearer and nearer
To its death through the autumn day.

And I gained to the heart of its being;
E’en the innermost place of its dream:
  And as souls in communion may seem
The owners of fancies together,—so seeing,
I passed midst the golden-hazed gleam.

The dream was ablaze of the gladness
Of days that were long-ago fled:
  Of Spring-time,—of Youth,—and of Hope-led
Rosy-tinged fancies,—such, e’er the shadow of sadness
Throws over it’s mantle of dread.

All aglow with the roseate beaming,
And a-flare in the dight of the bold,
  All the flames that stirred youth from of old—
Were the visions I glimpsed as the dreamings
  Were imaged in scarlet and gold.

The blood-dyes of the sun-sett of summer;—
The purple-blent floods o’er the sea;—
  The flash and the riot of flower spread lea—
All the heart-glows of the vanshed summer;—
Were pictured from memory.

The pulsings of departed pleasures;
And the achings of inspired pain
  As though throbbing in essence again—
Seemed blending with the exquisite measures
Of a music of longing so vain.

An impulse of unknown stirring,
Like echoes of prophecy
  A shadow of eternity—
Seemed to bring o’er the visions a blurring,
And the calling of memory;—
As whispers are blent in the murmuring
Of the fathomless irrepressible sea.

So sadly I left Nature a-dreaming
There in the golden-hazed gleam;
  The joyous—sad wonderful dream—
For the visions I had glimpsed held the seeming
Of thought deeper that dreamer may dream.