The Dreaming Boy

Sweet are thy dreams, thou happy, careless boy;

Thou know’st the taste of immortality;

No weary limbs can rest upon thy heart;

Sleep has no care to ease thee of at night;

The same move shuts together eye and mind,

And in the morning one move opens both.

Life lies before thee, hardly stepped on yet,

Like a green prairie, fresh, and full of flowers.

Life lies before thee for experiment,

Until old age comes, whose sad eyes can trace

A better path he missed, with fairer flowers,

Which other men have walked in misery.

Thou hast no knowledge of a life of toil,

How hard Necessity destroys our dreams,

And castles in the air must pay him tithes

So heavy that no tenant keeps them long.