SUMMER DREAM.

I GAZED at the swallows that here and there

Flitted on eager wing;

I gazed at the flowers that everywhere

Blushed at the kiss of Spring;

And my heart grew light, and my thoughts were free

To wander and wonder continually.

And I lived in castles in far-off lands,

And gardens by the sea,

Where the sea-nymphs held on the golden sands

Their moonlit revelry;

And loved and was loved by a maiden fair

Whose soul was the soul of the midnight air.

I lived in each moment that went and came, -

Lived in the fleeting span;

Cared not for laurels, nor glory, nor fame,

Forgot I was but man.

My life was the life of a spirit bright,

A poem, a dream in a ray of light.

As a dream ended, and as a dream fled,

My vision by the sea;

For nature was sleeping, for nature was dead,

'Neath wintry canopy, -

Summer at touch of the autumn had flown,

And left me to dream with myself - alone.