Once on a time I used to dream Strange spirits moved about my way, And I might catch a vagrant gleam, A glint of pixy or of fay; Their lives were mingled with my own, So far they roamed, so near they drew; And when I from a child had grown, I woke—and found my dream was true. For one is clad in coat of fur, And one is decked with feathers gay; Another, wiser, will prefer A sober suit of Quaker grey: This one's your servant from his birth, And that a Princess you must please, And this one loves to wake your mirth, And that one likes to share your ease. O gracious creatures, tiny souls! You seem so near, so far away, Yet while the cloudland round us rolls, We love you better every day. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...GREEN SYMPHONY by JOHN GOULD FLETCHER UNDER HOUSE ARREST IN WINDSOR by HENRY HOWARD WHAT THE SONNET IS by EUGENE JACOB LEE-HAMILTON THE FINDING OF THE LYRE by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL A BALLAD OF DEATH by ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE THE LIGHT OF ASIA by EDWIN ARNOLD |