The eyes grew fearful, readying for sleep,And slumber's gentle current o'er them crept;
It passed in fragrant rustling, soft and sweet,Longing to quench the fire of pain's defeat;
Still sending forth from perfumed flagons rareA magic showing inspiration's fair;
I drank wine from her lingering desire,She yearned toward heart where love burned like a fire;
The soul grew drunk on fancy, and her heartFound hope where dreams and longing counterpart;
Desires in throngs about her circled round,She tasted harshness and affliction's wound;
She stood upon life's shore, alone, apart,Gazing with heart both pure and generous of art;
She saw creation and its cares surround,Bewildered, swaying in the tumult's sound;
She saw disasters surge in flooding streams,That distant ruin filled her soul with dreams;
She wished she might redeem the lost in woe,While spirit yearned toward every goal to go;
Each soul in being bears its share of pain,From hopeless heart or breast where wounds remain;
Events advanced upon her, and there shoneA light that heeded not reproach nor groan;
In deepest night, when years of absence passed,Long separation's shadow had been cast;
A lover's heart was seized by longing's tide,He came revealing passion's secret side;
Silence embraced him, holding fast his voice,And silence is love's symbol and its choice;
A love that spread its radiance on his face,Like phantom gleaming after cloud's embrace;
A dove arose, responding to her dear,Enchanted breaths sang out for her to hear;
She spoke unto the branch that bent above,Yearning toward her in thirsty thirst of love;
Try, my beloved, the soul's own kiss, I pray,Untouched by tremor of consuming ray;
Like ether spreading magic in its breeze,To publish love's pure rapture and its ease;
She swayed between affection and desire,An orphan hope, a smile, and peace entire;
The morning dawned, its radiant face aglow,And she recalled what dreams had come and go;
She told a soul that still did yearn for him,Alas for hopes and sorrows, grim and dim;
How blest I was to see my love that night,While darkness flooded all the world with night;
In beauty's realm of dreams I saw him stand,Like light that shines across a shadowed land;
We slept as one united soul, embraced,And knew the purity of bodies laced;
We roamed in paradise of bliss divine,And glimpsed in his two eyes love's radiant sign;
The tender phantom folded in my arms,I pitied him my burning and my harms;
He wished to sip the nectar of his flame,But my refusal rose above that claim;
Our spirits mingled—secret of our days,Embracing lights in melody's sweet praise;
A lofty journey—we therein did roam,Through vast expanses of love's starry dome;
I woke from sleep unto a sound that rang,And found a phantom like mirage there sprang;
I saw a vision I could not pursue,Upon which dream-breeze softly drifted through.
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