The Day was dying; his breath <br />Wavered away in a hectic gleam; <br />And I said, if Life's a dream, and Death <br />And Love and all are dreams -- I'll dream. <br /> <br /> A mist came over the bay <br />Like as a dream would over an eye. <br />The mist was white and the dream was grey <br />And both contained a human cry, <br /> <br /> The burthen whereof was "Love", <br />And it filled both mist and dream with pain, <br />And the hills below and the skies above <br />Were touched and uttered it back again. <br /> <br /> The mist broke: down the rift <br />A kind ray shot from a holy star. <br />Then my dream did waver and break and lift -- <br />Through it, O Love, shone thy face, afar. <br /> <br /> So Boyhood sets: comes Youth, <br />A painful night of mists and dreams; <br />That broods till Love's exquisite truth, <br />The star of a morn-clear manhood, beams.<br /><br />Sidney Lanier<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/to-9/
