Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A DREAM AND A SONG, by ARTHUR EUGENE SMITH


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A DREAM AND A SONG, by                    
First Line: The witty and gay had departed
Last Line: Their pinions and left us -- sin's prey.
Subject(s): Dreams; Nightmares


The witty and gay had departed,
Having drunk up the last of the wine;
Kind friends were they, although light-hearted;
Far different this spirit of mine.
When the night on dark pinions swept over
The hills where the day's last beams shone,
As dreaming sweet dreams sits a lover,
I sat by the fireside alone.

Unlocked was the past while I dreamed, and
Its starlight shone into my room.
The present was not what it seemed, and
Bright visions took form in the gloom.
A melody sweet and a fancy
Were born of the fire on the hearth;
From its magical cirque, necromancy
The forms that I wished summoned forth.

Ay, spirits of joy and of sadness,
Like dervishes leaped from the grate;
And, whirling, passed on in their madness,
And I knew not the night, nor how late.
Among them was one who was dearest
And on whose soft bosom I lay
When life was the brightest and cheer'est,
Untrammeled with sadness each day!

Just a dream and a song by the firelight,
While winds were sonorous and keen.
A dream that was false as the weird light --
The ghost-light on marshy lands seen!
Oft dreams are by restrospect molded;
As often as warnings are they
That angels who guard have unfolded
Their pinions and left us -- sin's prey.





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