Classic Poem

In endless contrariety has fled
My feverish being; love and fame have fed
My better thoughts, and been my life. My frame
Was ill adapted to my spirit's flame,
And blasted with the cold and heavy curse
Of fear and weakness, Heaven can send no worse;
And they were both perverted in the hour
When unfledged reason had but feeble power,
And they did war together, till the clay
Gained mastery o'er the mind's immortal ray;
Immortal in its longings, for it felt
The beauty of perfection, and it dwelt
On images of light and love, and drew
Those pictured pleasures that are known by few,
And it would fix the deep glance of its eye
Upon the brightness of an evening sky,
And it would fashion on the arch of blue,
And on the rainbow-clouds of gayest hue,
A world of happiness, and there would trace
The ideal form of loveliness and grace,
And then I was entranced, and I would seem
Ascending to my Eden on the beam
That fell so bright upon me, and my flight
Was as the twinkling of a ray of light,
And I would dream for hours, until my soul
In unmixed feeling, soft and pure, would roll.