Better Gutenberg
Free, beautifully formatted public-domain ebooks

Ballads and Lyrics of Old France

by Andrew Lang

67 of 78 · Contents · Download EPUB

Dreams

He spake not truth, however wise, who said
   That happy, and that hapless men in sleep
   Have equal fortune, fallen from care as deep
As countless, careless, races of the dead.
Not so, for alien paths of dreams we tread,
   And one beholds the faces that he sighs
   In vain to bring before his daylit eyes,
And waking, he remembers on his bed;

And one with fainting heart and feeble hand
Fights a dim battle in a doubtful land,
   Where strength and courage were of no avail;
And one is borne on fairy breezes far
To the bright harbours of a golden star
   Down fragrant fleeting waters rosy pale.

← Back to Ballads and Lyrics of Old France

Scroll to Top