Poem by Henry Alford

* * *

I had the sweetest dream but yesternight
About the lady of my love:
I saw her sitting in a faint green light
With twisted boughs above.

Her russet hair flowed moistly down her neck
Parting each tender blooming cheek;
And beautiful young roses seemed to deck
Her bosom chaste and meek.

Some deeply--working thought with strong control
Cast down those eyes I longed to see;
And I could tell that all her virgin soul
Was faint for love of me.

No barrier thwarts the creatures of the mind:
I crept and sat me down by her;
And put, as I was wont, my arm behind
Her neck, within her hair.

I saw the sweetest gleam of heavenly light
Look from her moist uplifted eyes;
The deepest blush of unforewarned delight
Up to her warm cheeks rise.

But all in one sad moment utterly
Gone was the charm that wrought for us:
The vision faded from my sight, and I
Awoke to tell it thus.

1. 1846
2. You and I
3. Sunset at Burton Pynsent, Somerset
4. Descent of the Same
5. On the Aged Oak at Oakley, Somerset

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