| |
| DO troubles overwhelm thy soul, | |
| Like billows of the ocean, | |
| That o’er the shipwreck’d victim roll, | |
| In terrible commotion; | |
| Seize bold Imagination’s wing, | 5 |
| And soar to heaven, so seeming, | |
| Or reign a potentate and king— | |
| ’T is all obtain’d by—dreaming. | |
| |
| Do pain and poverty unite | |
| To rob thee of all pleasure— | 10 |
| Like thieves break in at dead of night, | |
| And steal away thy treasure, | |
| The treasure of a tranquil mind | |
| With joy and rapture teeming, | |
| Seek—seek, my friend, and thou shalt find | 15 |
| More solid joy in—dreaming. | |
| |
| For let the world still darker frown | |
| Than night-clouds on creation, | |
| And shower its tenfold vengeance down, | |
| Its wrath and indignation, | 20 |
| On this devoted head of mine, | |
| One star is still left gleaming, | |
| One light that will for ever shine— | |
| The hope—the bliss of dreaming. | |
| |
| The world can neither give nor take | 25 |
| Away these mental riches; | |
| They ’re mine—and sleeping or awake, | |
| I love the little witches; | |
| They charm my senses to repose, | |
| While cares and wants are screaming | 30 |
| My eyes and ears, to misery close, | |
| And give me peace in—dreaming. | |
| |
| Whene’er I lay me down to rest, | |
| With toils and sorrows weary— | |
| A heart most feelingly distress’d, | 35 |
| And all on earth looks dreary; | |
| Aerial powers around me throng, | |
| With light and glory beaming, | |
| And waft my raptured soul along | |
| The paradise of—dreaming. | 40 |
| |
| And oft as pensively I walk | |
| In solitary places, | |
| I hear celestial spirits talk, | |
| And think I see their faces; | |
| They bid me leave all earthly things, | 45 |
| While tears of grief are streaming— | |
| I mount Imagination’s wings, | |
| And find my heaven in—dreaming. | |
| |
