In visions of the dark night 
I have dreamed of joy departed
But a waking dream of life and light 
Hath left me broken-hearted.

Ah! what is not a dream by day 
To him whose eyes are cast 
On things around him with a ray 
Turned back upon the past?

That holy dream- that holy dream, 
While all the world were chiding, 
Hath cheered me as a lovely beam
A lonely spirit guiding.

What though that light, thro’ storm and night, 
So trembled from afar
What could there be more purely bright 
In Truth’s day-star?

THE END