Once in a dream I saw the flowers <br />That bud and bloom in Paradise; <br />More fair they are than waking eyes <br />Have seen in all this world of ours. <br />And faint the perfume-bearing rose, <br />And faint the lily on its stem, <br />And faint the perfect violet <br />Compared with them. <br /> <br />I heard the songs of Paradise: <br />Each bird sat singing in his place; <br />A tender song so full of grace <br />It soared like incense to the skies. <br />Each bird sat singing to his mate <br />Soft cooing notes among the trees: <br />The nightingale herself were cold <br />To such as these. <br /> <br />I saw the fourfold River flow, <br />And deep it was, with golden sand; <br />It flowed between a mossy land <br />With murmured music grave and low. <br />It hath refreshment for all thirst, <br />For fainting spirits strength and rest: <br />Earth holds not such a draught as this <br />From east to west. <br /> <br />The Tree of Life stood budding there, <br />Abundant with its twelvefold fruits; <br />Eternal sap sustains its roots, <br />Its shadowing branches fill the air. <br />Its leaves are healing for the world, <br />Its fruit the hungry world can feed, <br />Sweeter than honey to the taste <br />And balm indeed. <br /> <br />I saw the gate called Beautiful; <br />And looked, but scarce could look, within; <br />I saw the golden streets begin, <br />And outskirts of the glassy pool. <br />Oh harps, oh crowns of plenteous stars, <br />Oh green palm-branches many-leaved— <br />Eye hath not seen, nor ear hath heard, <br />Nor heart conceived. <br /> <br />I hope to see these things again, <br />But not as once in dreams by night; <br />To see them with my very sight, <br />And touch, and handle, and attain: <br />To have all Heaven beneath my feet <br />For narrow way that once they trod; <br />To have my part with all the saints, <br />And with my God.<br /><br />Christina Georgina Rossetti<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/paradise-in-a-dream/
