I was a wanderer in the land of dreams,
And winged fancies met me by the way,
Fairer than morning’s beams;
With the cool murmuring of mountain streams
My thirsting heart they led astray,
And left me, as they vanish’d into air,
Lost in the midnight of despair.
Mine eyes were upward bent
Towards the firmament,
Which was one mighty frown.
But, sudden through the gloom,
Like spirit from the tomb,
Shone forth night’s silver crown;
The star of chastity, all pure and holy,
Like a young nun, so fair, so pale, and melancholy.
I started to my feet, and by her light,
Guided aright,
I trod the path of truth once more,
And swiftly sped away;
Nor did I stay
Until I reach’d an unknown ocean shore,
Where harp-like ev’ry wave
The softest music gave;
And all the winds, with voices low and sweet,
Did hymns of ecstasy repeat.
Here, as I stood amazed,
And o’er the billows gazed,
A magic skiff drew near;
And there was none to steer,
Or urge it forward with the skilful oar;
All silently it came,
Swift as the lightning flame,
And touched the lonely shore.
I sprang into the bark,
At once the skies grew dark;
The tempest left his lair,
And bared his lightning brand,
And with one stroke of his gigantic hand
Smote ocean into fury, wild and fell,
As though its raging waves were blent with those of hell.
I stretch me in that narrow bark to die,
When on my ear there flows
A sweet and gently sigh;
Sweet as the incense of the earliest rose,
Which Zephyr on her wing
Conveys a welcome gift unto her mother Spring.
That sigh awoke me from my trance of fear—
I look’d, and lo! the skies again were clear;
And the bright dawning light of day
Fell on a beauteous isle that lay
A solitary Eden of the sea,
A realiz
(Peter John Allan)
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