Hope
1880
Norwood News and Crystal Palace Chronicle, 17 Jan 1880, p. 5
Once upon the mid-day glowing, while my thoughts were gently flowing
Over many a loved and well-known passage of poetic lore;
While I sank to wakeful dreaming, in the glorious July beaming,
Then there came a sudden motion, sweeping leaves and branches o’er;
Like a wind, and nothing more.
That swift change of light and shade, that the waving branches made,
Stirred me, filled me with delicious pleasures never felt before,
Till my joy was almost sick’ning; the whole universe seemed quick’ning,
As that wondrous thrilling motion swept the face of Nature o’er;
Was it wind, and nothing more?
Presently the light drew longer, then my soul felt calm and stronger,
And I looked above quite stedfast, and saw seraphs hov’ring o’er;
And the light grew ever clearer, ever brighter, ever nearer,
And I cried, “Hath God thus sent thee, glorious gleam, from heavenly shore?”
And a voice said, “Evermore.”
“Prophet,” said I, “Is life bright’ning; will the shades flee ’neath the light’ning;
Will despair and cank’ring worry quit this breast for evermore;
Shall my soul with joy now swelling, with emotion over-welling,
Part with the cold, blunting influence of its misery of yore?”
Said a voice, “For evermore.”
And that rich delight, unfading, even ’mid the world’s dull shading,
Ever casts a deeper beauty all the face of Nature o’er;
For the light grows ever stronger, ever broader, ever longer,
And my soul, whelmed by its glory, far beyond that shade of yore,
Now is lifted evermore.
This is one of several entries printed in the Norwood News and Crystal Palace Chronicle’s competition to create a poem in the style of Poe’s Raven. The four poems were divided into two Class I winners (The Bailiff and Hope), and two Class II winners (The Recollections of a “Two-Pair Back” and The Angel).
Return to the Quaint and Curious index for more pastiches and parodies of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven”.
