| William Wilfred Campbell, comp. The Oxford Book of Canadian Verse. 1913. | | | | Illusion | | By Nicholas Flood Davin (1843–1901) |
| | (From Eos, an Epic of the Dawn)
ILLUSION makes the better part of life. | |
| Happy self-conjurers, deceived, we win | |
| Delight, and, ruled by fancy, live in dreams;— | |
| The mood, the hour, the standpoint, rules the scene; | |
| The past, the present, the to-be, weave charms; | 5 |
| White-flashing memory’s fleet footsteps fly, | |
| And all the borders of her way are pied | |
| With flowers full glad e’en when their roots touch quick | |
| With pain. With tears upon his dimpled cheek | |
| Forth steps the infant Joy and, laughing, mocks | 10 |
| At care. In time smiles play upon the cheek | |
| Of pale Regret, who grows transformed, and stands | |
| A pensive queen, more fair than boisterous Mirth. | |
| The present ’s odorous with leaves of trees | |
| Long dead, and dead defacing woods and thorns, | 15 |
| And past the cloud that glowered, the blast that smote, | |
| And out from never-to-be-trodden days | |
| Hope smiles, and airs from dawns we’re never doomed | |
| To see, come rich with fragrance, fresh with power, | |
| Profuse of promises of golden days, | 20 |
| And join the necromancy of the past, | |
| Mingling the magic which makes up our lives. | | | | |
|
|
