TO ONE IN PARADISE

[Brynhilda]

To One in Paradise
by
Edgar Allan Poe


Thou wast all that to me, love,
    For which my soul did pine-
A green isle in the sea, love,
    A fountain and a shrine,
All wreathed with fairy fruits and flowers,
    And all the flowers were mine.

Ah, dream too bright to last!
    Ah, starry Hope! that didst arise
But to be overcast!
    A voice from out the Future cries,
"On! on!"- but o'er the Past
    (Dim gulf!) my spirit hovering lies
Mute, motionless, aghast!

For, alas! alas! me
    The light of Life is o'er!
    "No more- no more- no more-"
(Such language holds the solemn sea
    To the sands upon the shore)
Shall bloom the thunder-blasted tree
    Or the stricken eagle soar!

And all my days are trances,
    And all my nightly dreams
Are where thy grey eye glances,
    And where thy footstep gleams-
In what ethereal dances,
    By what eternal streams.






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