Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO - (2), by EDGAR ALLAN POE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO - (2), by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Should my early life seem
Last Line: Endure! -- no -- no -- defy.
Variant Title(s): A Dream Within A Dream, Or To -
Subject(s): Youth


1

Should my early life seem,
(As well it might,) a dream --
Yet I build no faith upon
The king Napoleon --
I look not up afar
For my destiny in a star:

2

In parting from you now
Thus much I will avow --
There are beings, and have been
Whom my spirit had not seen
Had I let them pass me by
With a dreaming eye --
If my peace hath fled away
In a night -- or in a day --
In a vision -- or in none --
Is it therefore the less gone? --

3

I am standing 'mid the roar
Of a weather-beaten shore,
And I hold within my hand
Some particles of sand --
How few! and how they creep
Thro' my fingers to the deep!
My early hopes? no -- they
Went gloriously away,
Like lightning from the sky
At once -- and so will I.

4

So young? ah! no -- not now --
Thou hast not seen my brow,
But they tell thee I am proud --
They lie -- they lie aloud --
My bosom beats with shame
At the paltriness of name
With which they dare combine
A feeling such as mine --
Nor Stoic? I am not:
In the terror of my lot
I laugh to think how poor
That pleasure "to endure!"
What! shade of Zeno! -- I!
Endure! -- no -- no -- defy.





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