ONCE in a dream (for once I dreamed of you) We stood together in an open field; Above our heads two swift-winged pigeons wheeled, Sporting at ease and courting full in view: -- When loftier still a broadening darkness flew, Down-swooping, and a ravenous hawk revealed; Too weak to fight, too fond to fly, they yield; So farewell life and love and pleasures new. Then as their plumes fell fluttering to the ground, Their snow-white plumage flecked with crimson drops, I wept, and thought I turned towards you to weep: But you were gone; while rustling hedgerow tops Bent in a wind which bore to me a sound Of far-off piteous bleat of lambs and sheep. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ST. JOHN'S, CAMBRIDGE; SONNET by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW HENRY WARD BEECHER by CHARLES HENRY PHELPS THE MEDITATION OF THE OLD FISHERMAN by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS CRADLE SONG by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH CURE FOR AFFLICTIONS by ARCHILOCHUS A PRAYER FOR LOVE by ELSA BARKER |