Most dreams are like the tide upon the beach Rolling the baseless pebbles, till their place Is changed and changed again, beyond the reach Of the best waking memory to retrace The loose and helpless motion; these, and those That stand like rocks, engraved with name and date, And cognizable words of coming fate, What mean they? who among our schoolmen knows? What means this double power to rave and teach? This common fund of toys and verities? Of dooming oracles and foolish cries? Now kept apart, now blending each with each - Abortive interests, and unreal ties, And prophecies no daylight can impeach! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SUNSET AND SUNRISE by EMILY DICKINSON MELANCHOLIA by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR THE GRASSHOPPER AND CRICKET by JOHN KEATS THE SILENT VOICES by ALFRED TENNYSON RING FROM THE RIM OF THE GLASS, BOYS by JOHN CLINTON ANTHONY TO HIS WIFE by DECIMUS MAGNUS AUSONIUS |