Classic Poem

Where are the phantoms I loved so well,
The dreams I once could dream,
The fancies' aerial gleam
That flashed thro' the Eden from which I fell.

Is this the price of the knowledge we gain,
The cost of learning life:
That we loathe the aimless strife,
That ghosts depart and dreams seem vain.

I learned to live in the rise and fall
Of swift life's rush and hum.
I turn, I whisper: “Come.”
I call my dreams, but in vain I call.

Life may answer, I cannot tell
“Is there a blessing in truth,
Surpassing the dreams of youth?”
Ah! but I loved those dreams so well.