EBB AND FLOW

by: George William Curtis (1824-1892)

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;

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;

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,

It said -- "Dream on!" and "Dream no more!"

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