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The Oxford Book of Canadian Verse

A Question

Edward John Chapman (1821–1904)

Prologue to ‘The Drama of Two Lives’

ART thou the old dream dreaming?

Poor heart, of the morrow beware!

Death may lurk in the brown eyes’ veiled gleaming,

In the white throat so wondrously fair.

The tones that wild heart-throbs awaken,

The sheen of the gold-showered hair,

The touch that thy soul hath so shaken

May lure thee and leave thee—ah, where?

Trust it not, the wild, treacherous gladness;

The twin hounds of passion and pain

Are swift to arise in their madness

They rend, and they rest not again!

The day-dream is sweet in the dreaming,

But dreamless the night’s dull despair,

When the voice and the touch and the gleaming

Have lured thee, and left thee—ah, where?