Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A DREAM OF LIFE, by MIRIAM DEL BANCO


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A DREAM OF LIFE, by                    
First Line: I slept and dreamed that life was beauty
Last Line: And duty wandered by my side along.
Subject(s): Life


"I slept and dreamed that life was beauty,
I woke and found that life was duty."

I slept and dreamed; I thought life was a series
Of happiness, of sunshine and of love;
I saw no sign — no form I saw but beauty,
A net of golden sunbeams hung above;
Sweet, red buds kissed my feet; the wild birds warbled
Their melodies from morn till dewy night.
A charm lay o'er the earth, from greenest valleys
Up to the lone snows on the mountain's height.

I woke to life; the dream had flown to cloudland,
And naught was left to please or comfort me;
Hard, stern and cruel seemed all forms and faces,
Ah! life was not a dream — reality;
The roses all had thorns — each beam a shadow,
Sad, minor chords stole into every song;
But Right's bright sunlight streamed into the valley,
And duty wandered by my side along.





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