| Higginson and Bigelow, comps. American Sonnets. 1891. | | | | The Harlequin of Dreams | | By Sidney Lanier (1842–1881) |
| | | SWIFT, through some trap mine eyes have never found, | |
| Dim-panelled in the painted scene of Sleep, | |
| Thou, giant Harlequin of Dreams, dost leap | |
| Upon my spirit’s stage. Then Sight and Sound, | |
| Then Space and Time, then Language, Mete and Bound, | 5 |
| And all familiar Forms that firmly keep | |
| Man’s reason in the road, change faces, peep | |
| Betwixt the legs and mock the daily round. | |
| Yet thou canst more than mock: sometimes my tears | |
| At midnight break through bounden lips—a sign | 10 |
| Thou hast a heart: and oft thy little leaven | |
| Of dream-taught wisdom works me bettered years. | |
| In one night witch, saint, trickster, fool divine, | |
| I think thou ’rt Jester at the Court of Heaven! | | | | |
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