Poems (Trask)/A Broken Dream
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A BROKEN DREAM.
We met one evening just as sunset kissed
The glowing hills to blushes burning red,—
One summer evening when the sea's gray mist
Hung thick above the rocks on Lighthouse Head;
And warm, soft shades of amber, flecked with gold,
Played o'er the sands so cold, and white, and dead.
The glowing hills to blushes burning red,—
One summer evening when the sea's gray mist
Hung thick above the rocks on Lighthouse Head;
And warm, soft shades of amber, flecked with gold,
Played o'er the sands so cold, and white, and dead.
I can recall e'en now, though years have fled,
The very smell of clover on the breeze,—
And as I stand here breathless and alone,
The same salt scent floats to me from the seas,
And on the shore the waves press slowly up,
Breaking their hearts in music on the lees.
The very smell of clover on the breeze,—
And as I stand here breathless and alone,
The same salt scent floats to me from the seas,
And on the shore the waves press slowly up,
Breaking their hearts in music on the lees.
We parted when the dismal autumn rain
Fringed the drear hills with gray and ghostly white,
And through the leafless trees, in wordless pain,
The wind sobbed wildly to the listening night;
And at long intervals the death-pale moon
Showed, through the clouds, a globe of sickly light.
Fringed the drear hills with gray and ghostly white,
And through the leafless trees, in wordless pain,
The wind sobbed wildly to the listening night;
And at long intervals the death-pale moon
Showed, through the clouds, a globe of sickly light.
We met and parted. Others do the same;
And lives are shipwrecked every sunny day.
We bear the torture,—hide the rending pain,—
And show the world our faces bright and gay;
And no one dreams the worm is at the heart
Of the sweet rose that burst to bloom in May.
And lives are shipwrecked every sunny day.
We bear the torture,—hide the rending pain,—
And show the world our faces bright and gay;
And no one dreams the worm is at the heart
Of the sweet rose that burst to bloom in May.
No love-words spoke we, for between our souls
An icy shadow stood, ghost-like and dim,
More deadly dreadful than the sea that rolls
Up the black headlands when the tide is in!
Keeping our lives eternally apart,—
Oh, fateful Presence! tireless, stern, and grim!
An icy shadow stood, ghost-like and dim,
More deadly dreadful than the sea that rolls
Up the black headlands when the tide is in!
Keeping our lives eternally apart,—
Oh, fateful Presence! tireless, stern, and grim!
Bound to another! Vows must not be broke!
If hearts break, let them! Well, the world is wide;
There lieth safety in mad words unspoke;
Let silence seal the tomb where Hope has died!
The world would call it sin to kiss thy lips,
So here in quietude let me abide,—
If hearts break, let them! Well, the world is wide;
There lieth safety in mad words unspoke;
Let silence seal the tomb where Hope has died!
The world would call it sin to kiss thy lips,
So here in quietude let me abide,—
Here, where the sea broadens out blue and cold
For weary leagues, to meet the southern shore,
Where in the summer sunshine's fadeless gold
Life is to thee a calm, for evermore!
And not a pale regret e'er stirs thy heart
For the brief Indian summer gone before.
For weary leagues, to meet the southern shore,
Where in the summer sunshine's fadeless gold
Life is to thee a calm, for evermore!
And not a pale regret e'er stirs thy heart
For the brief Indian summer gone before.
Here let me stay, hoping the wind will bear,
As a sweet augury of peace, to me,
Some breath of air that has across thee blown
In that fair land beyond the purple sea,—
And that the low, melodious song of waves
May bring my soul suggestions full of thee!
As a sweet augury of peace, to me,
Some breath of air that has across thee blown
In that fair land beyond the purple sea,—
And that the low, melodious song of waves
May bring my soul suggestions full of thee!