‘And ask ye why these sad tears stream?’

‘Te somnia nostra reducunt.’
OVID.

And ask ye why these sad tears stream?
; ;Why these wan eyes are dim with weeping?
I had a dream–a lovely dream,
; ;Of her that in the grave is sleeping.

I saw her as ’twas yesterday,
; ;The bloom upon her cheek still glowing;
And round her play’d a golden ray,
; ;And on her brows were gay flowers blowing.

With angel-hand she swept a lyre,
; ;A garland red with roses bound it;
Its strings were wreath’d with lambent fire
; ;And amaranth was woven round it.

I saw her mid the realms of light,
; ;In everlasting radiance gleaming;
Co-equal with the seraphs bright,
; ;Mid thousand thousand angels beaming.

I strove to reach her, when, behold,
; ;Those fairy forms of bliss Elysian,
And all that rich scene wrapt in gold,
; ;Faded in air–a lovely vision!

And I awoke, but oh! to me
; ;That waking hour was doubly weary;
And yet I could not envy thee,
; ;Although so blest, and I so dreary.

– ‘And ask ye why these sad tears stream?’ by Lord Alfred Tennyson

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