And loveliness,

have left my very heart

In climes of mine imagining, apart

From mine own home, with beings that have been

Of mine own thought what more could I have seen?
'T was once and only once and the wild hour
From my remembrance shall not pass some pow'r
Or spell had bound me - 't was the chilly wind

I have been happy, tho' [but] in a dream.
I have been happy and I love the theme:
Dreams in their vivid coloring of life,
As in that fleeting, shadowy, misty strife
Of semblance with reality which brings
To the delirious eye, more lovely things

Of Paradise and Love and all our own!

Than young Hope in his sunniest hour hath known.

SPIRITS OF THE DEAD

I.

Thy soul shall find itself alone

'Mid dark thoughts of the gray tombstone —

Not one, of all the crowd, to pry

Into thine hour of secrecy.

II.

Be silent in that solitude,

Which is not loneliness- for then

Title Visit of the Dead (1827).

2 Alone of all on earth — unknown (1827).

3 The cause. but none are near to pry (1827).

15

20

25

30

(1827)

5

The breeze the breath of God - is still-
And the mist upon the hill,

10 overshadow: then o'ershadow (1827).

11 The For the (1827).

13 From their thrones, in the dark heav'n (1827).

16 weariness: withering heart (1827).

17 fever: ferver (1827).

19 But 't will leave thee, as each star (1827).

20 In the morning light afar (1827).

21 Will fly thee — and vanish (1827).

22 But its thought thou can'st not banish (1827). 23 The breath of God will be still (1827).

24 mist: wish (1827).

10

15

20

Shadowy - shadowy — yet unbroken,

Is a symbol and a token

How it hangs upon the trees,

A mystery of mysteries!

(1827)

EVENING STAR

'T was noontide of summer,
And mid-time of night;
And stars, in their orbits,

Shone pale, thro' the light
Of the brighter, cold moon,
'Mid planets her slaves,
Herself in the Heavens,
Her beam on the waves.

I gaz'd a while

On her cold smile;

Too cold too cold for me.

There pass'd, as a shroud,
A fleecy cloud,

And I turn'd away to thee,

Proud Evening Star,

In thy glory afar,

And dearer thy beam shall be;

For joy to my heart

Is the proud part

Thou bearest in Heav'n at night,

And more I admire

Thy distant fire

Than that colder, lowly light.

25 By that summer breeze unbrok❜n (1827).
26 Shall charm thee as a token (1827).
27 And a symbol which shall be (1827).
28 Secrecy in thee (1827).

(1827)

25

5

IO

15

20

A DREAM WITHIN A DREAM

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow:

You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;

Yet if Hope has flown away

In a night, or in a day,

In a vision, or in none,

Is it therefore the less gone?

5

The texts of 1827 and 1829 differ radically from the text of 1849, and hence are reproduced here in their entirety. The variants of the Yankee and 1831 are given at the foot of the page.

Title Omitted in Yankee and in 1831 (where the poem is appended to

Tamerlane), both these texts being fragmentary.

1-5 Omitted in Yankee and 1831.

6 Yet if Hope has: If my peace hath (Yankee, 1831).

12 stand: am standing (Yankee), was standing (1831).

13 surf-tormented: weatherbeaten (Yankee), wind-beaten (1831). 14 hold: held (1831).

15 Some particles of sand (Yankee, 1831).

16 yet: and (Yankee); How bright! And yet to creep (1831).

18-24 Yankee substitutes the following:

My early hopes? - No- they

Went gloriously away,

Like lightning from the sky

At once- and so will I.

20

25

1831 makes the same substitution, except that for the last of these four lines, it reads:

Why in the battle did not I?