Edgar Allan Poe

[Nascentes morimur]

Oh! that my young life were a lasting dream!
My spirit not awak’ning, till the beam
Of an Eternity should bring the morrow.
Yes! tho’ that long dream were of hopeless sorrow.
’Twere better than the cold reality
Of waking life, to him whose heart must be,
And hath been still, upon the lovely earth,
A chaos of deep passion, from his birth.
But should it be — that dream eternally
Continuing — as dreams have been to me
In my young boyhood — should it thus be giv’n
’Twere folly still to hope for higher Heav’n.
For I have revell’d when the sun was bright
In the summer sky, in dreams of living light.
And loveliness, — have left my very heart
In climes of my imaginings apart
From mine own home, with beings that have been
Of mine own thought — what more could I have seen?
’Twas once — and only once — and the wild hour
From my remembrance shall not pass — some pow’r
Or spell had bound me — ’twas the chilly wind
Came o’er me in the night, and left behind
Its image on my spirit — or the moon
Shone on my slumbers in her lofty noon
Too coldly — or the stars — howe’er it was
That dream was as that night-wind — let it pass.
I have been happy, tho’ in a dream.
I have been happy — and I love the theme:
Dreams! in their vivid colouring of life
As in that fleeting, shadowy, misty strife
Of semblance with reality which brings
To the delirious eye, more lovely things
Of Paradise and Love — and all our own!
Than young Hope in his sunniest hour hath known.

“Dreams” by Edgar Allan Poe 1827​

 

[Nascentes morimur]

“When from your gems of thought I turn
To those pure orbs, your heart to learn,
I scarce know which to prize most high —
The bright i-dea, or the bright dear-eye.…”

“Impromptu” by Edgar Allan Poe. 1845​

 

[Nascentes morimur]

Deep into that darkness peering, long
I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting,
dreaming dreams no mortal
ever dared to dream before.​

 

[parafernalia]

Και το Κοράκι ακίνητο στη προτομή όλο μένει,
στης Αθηνάς τη προτομή απάνω από τη πόρτα
και τ’ αγριωπά τα μάτια του σα του Διαβόλου μοιάζουν
όταν μονάχος σκέφτεται. Και το θαμπό λυχνάρι
ρίχνει σκια στο πάτωμα σαν πέφτει στο Κοράκι.
Και η ψυχή μου ανήμπορη δε θα μπορέσει πια
να βγει απ’ τον αμφίβολο τον κύκλο της Σκιάς
που φαίνεται στο πάτωμα.
Ποτέ από δω και πια!

******

 

[Nascentes morimur]

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.

Τo one to paradise.​