In visions of the dark night
I have dreamed of joy departed-
But a waking dream of life and light
Has left me broken-hearted.
Ah! what is not a dream by day
To him whose eyes are cast
On things around him with a ray
Turned back upon the past?
That holy dream- that holy dream,
While all the world were chiding,
Has cheered me as a lovely beam
A lonely spirit guiding.
What though that light, through storm and night,
So trembled from afar-
What could there be more purely bright
In Truth's day-star?


by Edgar Allen Poe