One night I dreamt that on a shore
Of far-off Eastern lands I stood,
And to my ears the breezes bore
Faint music from a mystic wood,
And lo, before me on the sand
There danced a beauteous virgin band.
The moonlight glinted on their hair,
And shone with love on gleaming arms,
On sinuous forms as light as air
Filling the night with sweet alarms.
And from the seas that never sleep,
Fresh rollers in the moonlight sweep.
And lo, from out the swaying throng,
A damsel danced away to me
And soft she wooed me with her song,
With smiling eyes, bewitchingly.
I rose up swift to grasp her hand,
But laughingly she sought the land”
I chased her through the silver light,
That stroked her midnight coloured hair,
I chased her maiden form, so slight
So full of thrills of joy and fear.
Still, from the seas that never sleep,
Fresh rollers in the moonlight creep.
We passed beside deep, dismal lakes
And silent glades, and seething streams
Still through the trees her way she takes,
Luring me to a world of dreams.
Beneath the star-lit sky we steal
Across a land where naught is real.
Across a meadow, empty, still,
Through woods of silent, solemn trees,
Up many a desert, wind-blown hill
Where music mingled with the breeze.
Then down again to darkened vales
Of mist and swamp and sighing wails.
The moon hung waiting o’er the sea,
She cried aloud for I was near —
The moon still waited lingeringly
Then vanished — but I clasped her hair —
Still, from the seas that never sleep,
I heard the distant rollers creep —
A moment, and she lay reclined
Her silken head upon my knees
Then, lo, a far-off sobbing wind,
Swept from across the forest trees
And swift the vision fled away
Shamed by the golden shafts of day.
(R S Ward)
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Based on Topics: World Poems, Night Poems, Light Poems, Nature Poems, Joy & Excitement Poems, Dreams Poems, Sleep Poems, Fear Poems, Hair Poems, Silver Poems, Imagination & Visualization PoemsBased on Keywords: lingeringly, glinted, bewitchingly