AS when from dreams awaking <br />The dim forms float away <br />Whose visioned smiles were making <br />Our darkness bright as day; <br />We vainly strive, while weeping, <br />From their shining spirit track, <br />(Where they fled while we were sleeping,) <br />To call those dear ones back! <br /> <br />Like the stars, some power divides them <br />From a world of want and pain; <br />They are there, but daylight hides them, <br />And we look for them in vain. <br />For a while we dwell with sadness, <br />On the beauty of that dream, <br /> <br />Then turn, and hail with gladness <br />The light of morning's beam. <br /> <br />So, when memory's power is wringing <br />Our lonely hearts to tears, <br />Dim forms around us bringing <br />That brightened former years: <br />Fond looks and low words spoken, <br />Which those dreamy days could boast, <br />Rise; till the spell be broken, <br />We forget that they are lost! <br /> <br />But when the hour of darkness rolls <br />Like heavy night away; <br />And peace is stealing o'er our souls, <br />Like the dawn of summer day: <br />The dim sweet forms that used to bless, <br />Seem stealing from us too; <br />We loved them-but joy's sunniness <br />Hath hid them from our view! <br /> <br />Oh could day beam eternally, <br />And Memory's power cease, <br />This world, a world of light would be, <br />Our hearts were worlds of peace: <br /> <br />But dreams of joy return with night, <br />And dwell upon the past- <br />And every grief that clouds our light, <br />Reminds us of the last!<br /><br />Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/as-when-from-dreams-awaking/
