Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE DREAMER, by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE DREAMER, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Peace to thy dreams! Thou art slumbering now
Last Line: How know we if under the wings of death?
Alternate Author Name(s): Browne, Felicia Dorothea
Subject(s): De Quincey, Thomas (1785-1859); Dreams; Nightmares


PEACE to thy dreams? thou art slumbering now --
The moonlight's calm is upon thy brow;
All the deep love that o'erflows thy breast
Lies 'midst the hush of their heart at rest --
Like the scent of a flower in its folded bell,
When eve through the woodlands hath sighed farewell.

Peace! The sad memories that through the day
With a weight on thy lonely bosom lay,
The sudden thoughts of the changed and dead,
That bowed thee as winds bow the willow's head,
The yearnings for faces and voices gone --
All are forgotten! Sleep on, sleep on!

Are they forgotten? It is not so!
Slumber divides not the heart from its woe.
E'en now o'er thine aspect swift changes pass,
Like lights and shades over wavy grass:
Tremblest thou, Dreamer? O love and grief!
Ye have storms that shake e'en the closed-up leaf!

On thy parted lips there's a quivering thrill,
As on a lyre ere its chords are still;
On the long silk lashes that fringe thine eye,
There's a large tear gathering heavily --
A rain from the clouds of thy spirit pressed:
Sorrowful Dreamer! this is not rest!

It is Thought at work amidst buried hours --
It is Love keeping vigil o'er perished flowers.
-- Oh, we bear within us mysterious things!
Of Memory and Anguish, unfathomed springs;
And Passion -- those gulfs of the heart to fill
With bitter waves, which it ne'er may still.

Well might we pause ere we gave them sway,
Flinging the peace of our couch away!
Well might we look on our souls in fear --
They find no fount of oblivion here!
They forget not, the mantle of sleep beneath --
How know we if under the wings of death?





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net