In visions of the dark night
        I have dreamed of joy departed,
      But a waking dream of life and light
        Hath left me broken-hearted.

      Ah! what is not a dream by day
        To him whose eyes are cast
      On things around him with a ray
        Turned back upon the past?

      That holy dream- that holy dream,
        While all the world were chiding,
      Hath cheered me as a lovely beam
        A lonely spirit guiding.

      What though that light, thro' storm and night,
        So trembled from afar,
      What could there be more purely bright
        In Truth's day-star?

~ Edgar Allan Poe

Back to the main Poe page