Marianne's dream

1.

A pale Dream came to a Lady fair,

And said, A boon, a boon, I pray!

I know the secrets of the air,

And things are lost in the glare of day,

Which I can make the sleeping see,

If they will put their trust in me.

2.

And thou shalt know of things unknown,

If thou wilt let me rest between

The veiny lids, whose fringe is thrown

Over thine eyes so dark and sheen:

And half in hope, and half in fright,

The Lady closed her eyes so bright.

3.

At first all deadly shapes were driven

Tumultuously across her sleep,

And o’er the vast cope of bending heaven

All ghastly-visaged clouds did sweep;

And the Lady ever looked to spy

If the golden sun shone forth on high.

4.

And as towards the east she turned,

She saw aloft in the morning air,

Which now with hues of sunrise burned,

A great black Anchor rising there;

And wherever the Lady turned her eyes,

It hung before her in the skies.

5.

The sky was blue as the summer sea,

The depths were cloudless overhead,

The air was calm as it could be,

There was no sight or sound of dread,

But that black Anchor floating still

Over the piny eastern hill.

6.

The Lady grew sick with a weight of fear

To see that Anchor ever hanging,

And veiled her eyes; she then did hear

The sound as of a dim low clanging,

And looked abroad if she might know

Was it aught else, or but the flow

Of the blood in her own veins, to and fro.

7.

There was a mist in the sunless air,

Which shook as it were with an earthquake’s shock,

But the very weeds that blossomed there

Were moveless, and each mighty rock

Stood on its basis steadfastly;

The Anchor was seen no more on high.

8.

But piled around, with summits hid

In lines of cloud at intervals,

Stood many a mountain pyramid

Among whose everlasting walls

Two mighty cities shone, and ever

Through the red mist their domes did quiver.

9.

On two dread mountains, from whose crest,

Might seem, the eagle, for her brood,

Would ne’er have hung her dizzy nest,

Those tower-encircled cities stood.

A vision strange such towers to see,

Sculptured and wrought so gorgeously,

Where human art could never be.

10.

And columns framed of marble white,

And giant fanes, dome over dome

Piled, and triumphant gates, all bright

With workmanship, which could not come

From touch of mortal instrument,

Shot o’er the vales, or lustre lent

From its own shapes magnificent.

11.

But still the Lady heard that clang

Filling the wide air far away;

And still the mist whose light did hang

Among the mountains shook alway,

So that the Lady’s heart beat fast,

As half in joy, and half aghast,

On those high domes her look she cast.