Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A DREAM, by CHARLES WILLIAMS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A DREAM, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: No more in any house can I be at peace
Last Line: Daily; and here shall it be in the end,—or here?'
Subject(s): Dreams; Sleep; Nightmares


No more in any house can I be at peace,
Because of a house that waits, far off or near,
To-morrow or (likelier) after many a year,
Where a room and a door are that shall fulfil my fear.

For last night, dreaming, I stood in a house and saw
Softly the room door open, and one come in,
Its owner, and as round the edge his evil grin
Peeped ere he passed, I knew him for visible Sin.

Unwashed, unshaven, frowsy, abominable,
In a green greasy hat, a green greasy coat,
Loose-mouth'd, with silent tread and the smell of the goat,
He stole in, and helplessness stifled rage in my throat.

For this was he who came long since to my heart,
This was he who entered the house of my soul long ago;
Now he possesses imagination, and O
I shall meet him yet in some brick-built house, I know.

He shall come, he shall turn from the long parch'd street he treads
For ever, shuffling, hand rubbed over hand unclean,
Servile yet masterful, with satiate spleen
Watching his houses, and muttering of things obscene.

He shall come to my flesh as he came last night to my dream;
Eyes shall know him as soul and insight have known;
Though all the world be there, I shall stand alone
Watching him peer and enter and find out his own.

Noisier he shall not move, nor loudlier speak,
Than the first sly motion of lewd delight in me
Long since—which then I shall know none other than he,
Now visible, aged, and filled with monstrous glee.

Therefore now in terror I enter all houses, all rooms
Enter in dread, and move among them in fear,
Watching all doors, saying softly 'It draws more near
Daily; and here shall it be in the end,—or here?'





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