Venice masks

Sunday 22 October 2017

He whom a dream hath possessed - Sheamus O'Sheel

He whom a dream hath possessed knoweth no more of doubting,
For mist and the blowing of winds and the mouthing of words he scorns;
Not the sinuous speech of schools he hears, but a knightly shouting,
And never comes darkness down, yet he greeteth a million morns.

He whom a dream hath possessed knoweth no more of roaming;
All roads and the flowing of waves and the speediest flight he knows.
But wherever his feet are set, his soul is forever homing,
And going, he comes, and coming he heareth a call and goes.

He whom a dream hath possessed knoweth no more of sorrow,
At death and the dropping of leaves and the fading of suns he smiles.
For a dream remembers no past, and scorns the desire of a morrow.
And a dream in a sea of doom sets surely the ultimate isles.

He whom a dream hath possessed treads the impalpable marches,
From the dust of the day's long road he leaps to a laughing star.
And the ruin of worlds that fall he views from eternal arches,
And rides God's battlefield in a flashing and golden car.

Sheamus O'Sheel (born James Shields) (1886 – 1954) USA
Source: Anthology of Irish Verse, edited by Padraic Colum, New York: Boni and Liveright, 1922; Bartleby.com

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