Dream-Fellows
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Behind
the veil that men call sleep
I came upon a golden land.
A golden light was in the leaves
And on the amethystine strand.
Amber and gold and emerald
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5 |
The
unimaginable wood.
And in a joy I could not name
Beside the emerald stream I stood.
Down from a violet hill came one
Running to meet me on the shore.
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10 |
I clasped
his hand. He seemed to be
One I had long been waiting for.
All the sweet sounds I ever heard
In his low greeting seemed to
blend.
His were the eyes of my true love.
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15 |
| His
was the mouth of my true friend.
We spoke; and the transfigured words
Meant more than words had ever
meant.
Our lips at last forgot to speak,
For silence was so eloquent.
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20 |
We floated in the emerald stream;
We wandered in the wondrous wood.
His soul to me was clear as light.
My inmost thought he understood.
Only to be was to be glad.
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25 |
Life,
like a rainbow, filled our eyes.
In comprehending comradeship
Each moment seemed a Paradise.
And often, in the after years,
I and my dream-fellow were one
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30 |
For
hours together in that land
Behind the moon, beyond the sun.
At last, in the tumultuous dream
That men call life, I chanced
to be
One day amid the city throng
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35 |
| Where
the great piers oppose the sea.
A giant ship was swinging off
For other seas and other skies.
Amid the voyaging companies
I saw his face, I saw his eyes.
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40 |
Oh, passionately through the crowd
I thrust, and then—our glances
met!
Across the widening gulf we gazed,
With white set lips, and eyes
grown wet.
And all day long my heart was faint
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45 |
With
parting pangs and tears unwept;
Till night brought comfort, for he came
To meet me, smiling, when I slept.
Beyond the veil that men call sleep
We met, within that golden land.
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50 |
He said—or
I—"We grieved to-day.
But now, more wise, we understand!
"Communing in the common world,
The flesh, for us, would be
a bar.
Strange would be our familiar speech;
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55 |
| And
earth would seem no more a star.
"We’d know no more the golden leaves
Beside the amethystine deep;
We’d see no more each other’s thought
Behind the veil that men call
sleep!"
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60 |
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