1858 A DAY-DREAM by William Cullen Bryant şiElectronically Enhanced Text (c) Copyright 1996, World Library(R) DAK Upgraded Edition, Copyright 2000, DAK Industries 2000, Inc(R)şI {A_DAY_DREAM A DAY DREAM - A day-dream by the dark-blue deep; Was it a dream, or something more? I sat where Posilippo's steep, With its gray shelves, o'erhung the shore. - On ruined Roman walls around The poppy flaunted, for 'twas May; And at my feet, with gentle sound, Broke the light billows of the bay. - I sat and watched the eternal flow Of those smooth billows toward the shore, While quivering lines of light below Ran with them on the ocean-floor: - Till, from the deep, there seemed to rise White arms upon the waves outspread, Young faces, lit with soft blue eyes, And smooth, round cheeks, just touched with red. - Their long, fair tresses, tinged with gold, {A_DAY_DREAM ^line 20} Lay floating on the ocean-streams, And such their brows as bards behold- Love-stricken bards- in morning dreams. - Then moved their coral lips; a strain Low, sweet and sorrowful, I heard, As if the murmurs of the main Were shaped to syllable and word. - "The sight thou dimly dost behold, Oh, stranger from a distant sky! Was often, in the days of old, Seen by the clear, believing eye. - "Then danced we on the wrinkled sand, Sat in cool caverns by the sea, Or wandered up the bloomy land, To talk with shepherds on the lea. - "To us, in storms, the seaman prayed, {A_DAY_DREAM ^line 40} And where our rustic altars stood, His little children came and laid The fairest flowers of field and wood. - "Oh woe, a long, unending woe! For who shall knit the ties again That linked the sea-nymphs, long ago, In kindly fellowship with men? - "Earth rears her flowers for us no more; A half-remembered dream are we; Unseen we haunt the sunny shore, And swim, unmarked, the glassy sea. - "And we have none to love or aid, But wander, heedless of mankind, With shadows by the cloud-rack made, With moaning wave and sighing wind. - "Yet sometimes, as in elder days, {A_DAY_DREAM ^line 60} We come before the painter's eye, Or fix the sculptor's eager gaze, With no profaner witness nigh. - "And then the words of men grow warm With praise and wonder, asking where The artist saw the perfect form He copied forth in lines so fair." - As thus they spoke, with wavering sweep Floated the graceful forms away; Dimmer and dimmer, through the deep, I saw the white arms gleam and play. - Fainter and fainter, on mine ear, Fell the soft accents of their speech, Till I, at last, could only hear, The waves run murmuring up the beach. - - THE END