LAST night, in some lost mood of meditation, The while my dreamy vision ranged the far Unfathomable arches of creation, I saw a falling star: And as my eyes swept round the path it embered With the swift-dying glory of its glow, With sudden intuition I remembered A wish of long ago -- A wish that, were it made -- so ran the fancy Of credulous young lover and of lass -- As fell a star, by some strange necromancy, Would surely come to pass. And, of itself, the wish, reiterated A thousand times in youth, flashed o'er my brain, And, like the star, as soon obliterated, Dropped into night again. For my old heart had wished for the unending Devotion of a little maid of nine -- And that the girl-heart, with the woman's blending, Might be forever mine. And so it was, with eyelids raised, and weighty With ripest clusterings of sorrow's dew, I cried aloud through Heaven: "O little Katie! When will my wish come true?" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CHRISTMAS CAROL by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR YOU LINGERING SPARSE LEAVES OF ME by WALT WHITMAN MY LOYAL LOVE by JOHANNA AMBROSIUS PSALM 71 by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE RECOLLECTINS OF CHRIST'S HOSPITAL by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN THE DEATH-MASK OF JOHN CLARE by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN LAMENT FOR OLD MEN by VERNE BRIGHT |