William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. (1878–1962). Anthology of Massachusetts Poets. 1922.
To Imagination
O
Of pictures magical thy eyes unfold,
What triumphs of celestial wonders wrought,
What marvels from a breath of beauty rolled!
Skyward and seaward on the clouds are scrolled,
A mystic imagery of castled thought,
A thousand worlds to lose,—or win and mould—
A radiant iridescence swiftly caught
Of ever-changing glory, fancy-fraught.
A thousand wonders in thy dreamlit face,—
Eyes that behold afar the turrets high
Of Ilium, and the transient mortal grace
Of Deirdre’s sadness, all the conquering race
Of Athens,—eyes that saw Eden’s beauty lie
In passionate adoration—visions trace
Across the tender brooding of the sigh
That wrecked a city and made chieftains die.
Of those far-seeing orbs that track the gleam—
The fleecy marvel of the cloud is line
On line the wizard tracery of a dream.
O lad, who buildest not of things that seem,
Beyond what bounds of visioning divine
Came that far smile, from what long-strayed sunbeam
Caught thou the radiance, from what fostering vine
The power to build and mould the deep design?
Is all the dream a bubbled splendor white,
Beyond those castles cloud-bound, does there dwell
The eternal silence of the dark—or light?
Will thy hand hold the pen which shall indict
The symboled mystery—write the final knell
Of rainbow fancy—is the distant sight
A nothingless encircled by a spell
Of gleaming bubbles wrought of beauty’s shell?
Of Youth’s short golden dream is lord and king.
The eyes that farthest gaze in ecstasy,
Were never meant to paint the immortal thing
They see, nor understand the joy they bring.
The misty baubles of the sky and sea
Sail on. Dream still, bright-visioned boy, and fling
The glittering mantle of thy thoughts that flee,
Weaving us evermore thy shining pageantry.