511. Ebb and Flow by George William Curtis. Stedman, Edmund Clarence, ed. 1900. An American Anthology, 1787-1900

Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

511. Ebb and Flow

By George William Curtis


I WALKED beside the evening sea,
And dreamed a dream that could not be;
The waves that plunged along the shore
Said only—“Dreamer, dream no more!”

But still the legions charged the beach;	5
Loud rang their battle-cry, like speech;
But changed was the imperial strain:
It murmured—“Dreamer, dream again!”

I homeward turned from out the gloom,—
That sound I heard not in my room;	10
But suddenly a sound, that stirred
Within my very breast, I heard.

It was my heart, that like a sea
Within my breast beat ceaselessly:
But like the waves along the shore,	15
It said—“Dream on!” and “Dream no more!”