Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, DREAMS OF THE PAST, by ELIZA COOK


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

DREAMS OF THE PAST, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: As we wander alone where the moonlight resposes
Last Line: Would thrust from its visions the dreams of the past?
Subject(s): Dreams; Past; Nightmares


As we wander alone where the moonlight reposes,
And the wind o'er the ripple is tuneful and sweet,
When the stars glitter out as the day flower closes,
And the night-bird and dew-drop are all that we meet;

Oh! then, when the warm flush of thought is unsealing
The bonds that a cold world too often keeps fast,
We shall find that the deepest and dearest of feeling
Is pouring its tide in a dream of the past.

Oh! who shall have travelled through life's misty morning,
Forgetting all way-marks that rose on their track?
Though the things we loved then had maturity's scorning,
Though we cast them behind, yet we like to look back.

Though the present may charm us with magical numbers,
And lull the rapt spirit, entrancing it fast,
Yet 'tis rarely the heart is so sound in its slumbers,
As to rest without mingling some dream of the past.

Oh! the days that are gone, they will have no returning,
And 'tis wisest to bury the hopes that decay,
But the incense that's purest and richest in burning,
Is oft placed where all round it is fading away.

Though the days that are gone had more canker than blossom,
And even that blossom too tender to last,
Yet had we the power, oh! where is the bosom
Would thrust from its visions the dreams of the past?





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