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A DREAM, by                    
First Line: I dreamed old winter donned his trailing mantle
Last Line: Tis thus I dreamed it in an idle hour.
Subject(s): Dreams; Nightmares


I dreamed Old Winter donned his trailing mantle
Of ermine, and his wealth of jewels rare;
I saw them glisten—though 'twas but a vision—
Like frozen sunshine in his snowy hair;
I saw him tread upon the summer's blossoms—
I saw it plainly, yet 'twas but a dream—
He turned each leaf into a crystal pendant,
And laid his icy hand upon each stream.

He left no flow'r; the Earth's warm, throbbing bosom
He hid beneath a kerchief smooth and white;
How could he know that she concealed beneath it
As many secrets as a summer night
Conceals beneath her floating veil of darkness?
How could he see that 'neath the covering prim
She wore, upon a slender cord of sunshine,
An image of the laughing face of Spring?

I dreamed each snowflake drifting down from cloudland,
O'er mountain ridges and o'er forests grand,
Was but the petal of a Summer flow'r,
Disguised and set adrift by Spring-tide's hand;
That when Old Winter on his throne sits dreaming
She glides to earth; and in long midnight hours,
Upon each windowpane, with skillful pencil,
Designs the patterns of a thousand flow'rs.

He sits in glistening robes and royal jewels
And grimly smiles to think his work is done;
And all the while the brown earth keeps her secret,
And Spring-time masks her blossoms, one by one;
Then welcome gladly thou each starry fragment—
Each is a shrouded bud, a spring-tide flow'r—
'Tis thus, at least, I saw it in a vision,
'Tis thus I dreamed it in an idle hour.





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