To One in Paradise

Thou wast all that to me, love,
     For which my soul did pine-
A green isle in the sea, love,
     A fountain and a shrine,
All wreathed with fairy fruits and flowers,
     And all the flowers were mine.

Ah, dream too bright to last!
     Ah, starry Hope! that didst arise
But to be overcast!
     A voice from out the Future cries,
"On! on!"- but o'er the Past
     (Dim gulf!) my spirit hovering lies
Mute, motionless, aghast!

For, alas! alas! me
     The light of Life is o'er!
     "No more- no more- no more-"
(Such language holds the solemn sea
     To the sands upon the shore)
Shall bloom the thunder-blasted tree
     Or the stricken eagle soar!

And all my days are trances,
     And all my nightly dreams
Are where thy grey eye glances,
     And where thy footstep gleams-
In what ethereal dances,
     By what eternal streams.

From "Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe" 1834