Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864)

AN AGED man who loved to doze away

An hour by daylight, for his eyes were dim,

And he had seen too many suns go down

And rise again, dreamed that he saw two forms

Of radiant beauty; he would clasp them both,

But both, flew stealthily away. He cried

In his wild dream,
‘I never thought, O youth,

That thou, altho’ so cherished, would’st return,

But I did think that he who came with thee,

Love, who could swear more sweetly than birds sing,

Would never leave me comfortless and lone.’

A sigh broke through his slumber, not the last.