| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | VII. The Dream | | By Mrs. Elizabeth Oakes Smith (1806–1893) |
| | | I DREAMED last night, that I myself did lay | |
| Within the grave, and after stood and wept. | |
| My spirit sorrowed where its ashes slept! | |
| ’T was a strange dream, and yet methinks it may | |
| Prefigure that which is akin to truth. | 5 |
| How sorrow we o’er perished dreams of youth, | |
| High hopes and aspirations doomed to be | |
| Crushed and o’ermastered by earth’s destiny! | |
| Fame, that the spirit loathing turns to ruth,— | |
| And that deluding faith, so loath to part, | 10 |
| That earth will shrine for us one kindred heart! | |
| O, ’t is the ashes of such things that wring | |
| Tears from the eyes; hopes like to these depart, | |
| And we bow down in dread, o’ershadowed by Death’s wing. | | | | |
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