A Reverie

Not from fancy's land of wondersCome the dreams that haunt my brain,But from out the past's dim chambersGlide anon the shadowy train.On each pale and solemn visageIs some old remembrance prest,Some old memory that hath lingeredEver fadeless in my breast.

And as troop on troop of visionsThrough thought's silent halls defile,Like the ancient ghosts that wanderThrough some lone cathedral aisle,New-born fancies mix and mingleWith the old familiar throng,And the Past and Present meeting,Form the river-tide of song.

Dreams of present have no power,And no grandeur like the past;Glory borrows its enchantmentFrom the distance it is cast;But the present is the wizardThat can break oblivion's seal,And the "dead past's dead" unburied,By a magic word reveal.

Life has many hidden currents,Like the cave-streams of the earth,Flowing deep and strong in secret,Ne'er betraying bourne or birth;But the flood in darkness wanderingWith no flower upon its way,Has its course 'mong richer treasuresThan have met the blaze of day.

Light that sometimes shines upon itFinds it deep, and pure, and cold;And the starry gleam reflected,Leaves no bosom secret told.In my spirit's depths are hiddenTreasures gathered from all life:Pearls of thought, and gold of feeling,Moveless with the current's strife.

In life's lively panorama,Looking for what is to be,We forget to note the presentEre the changing phantoms flee;But as clouds by tempests drivenScatter rain-drops as they fly,Many golden sands have fallenWhere they must forever lie.

In my heart the silver trebleOf these broken notes of song,Makes no discord in the musicAs it flows in waves along;For the spirit of my dreamingSings me all the missing notes,And the strain to you so brokenPerfect to my hearing floats.