Flight the Third. Fata Morgana. Birds of Passage. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 1893. Complete Poetical Works

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882). Complete Poetical Works. 1893.

Birds of Passage

Flight the Third.
Fata Morgana

Contained in the volume entitled Aftermath, 1873.

O SWEET illusions of Song,
That tempt me everywhere,
In the lonely fields, and the throng
Of the crowded thoroughfare!

I approach, and ye vanish away,	5
I grasp you, and ye are gone;
But ever by night and by day,
The melody soundeth on.

As the weary traveller sees
In desert or prairie vast,	10
Blue lakes, overhung with trees,
That a pleasant shadow cast;

Fair towns with turrets high,
And shining roofs of gold,
That vanish as he draws nigh,	15
Like mists together rolled,—

So I wander and wander along,
And forever before me gleams
The shining city of song,
In the beautiful land of dreams.	20

But when I would enter the gate
Of that golden atmosphere,
It is gone, and I wonder and wait
For the vision to reappear.