Poem by Madison Julius Cawein

Art

   A Phantasy

I know not how I found you
 With your wild hair a-blow,
Nor why the world around you
 Would never let me know:
Perhaps 't was Heaven relented,
Perhaps 't was Hell resented
My dream, and grimly vented
 Its hate upon me so.

In Shadowland I met you
 Where all dim shadows meet;
Within my heart I set you,
 A phantom bitter-sweet:
No hope for me to win you,
Though I with soul and sinew
Strive on and on, when in you
 There is no heart or heat!

Yet ever, aye, and ever,
 Although I knew you lied,
I followed on, but never
 Would your white form abide:
With loving arms stretched meward,
As Sirens beckon seaward
To some fair vessel leeward,
 Before me you would glide.

But like an evil fairy,
 That mocks one with a light,
Now near, you led your airy,
 Now far, your fitful flight:
With red-gold tresses blowing,
And eyes of sapphire glowing,
With limbs like marble showing,
 You lured me through the night.

To some unearthly revel
 Of mimes, a motley crew,
'Twixt Angel-land and Devil,
 You lured me on, I knew,
And lure me still! soft whiling
The way with hopes beguiling,
While dark Despair sits smiling
 Behind the eyes of you!

1. In the Mountains
2. The Iron Cross
3. Night and Rain
4. Above the Vales
5. Zero

Herman Melville Art ("IN placid hours well-pleased we dream")

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