To ---

By: Edgar Allen Poe [May 24, 1845]

1

Should my early life seem,
(As well it might,) a dream-
Yet I build no faith upon
The king Napoleon-
I look not up afar
To my destiny in a star:

2

In parting from you now
Thus much I will avow-
There are beings, and have been
Whom my spirit had not seen
Had I let them pass me by
With a dreaming eye-
If my peace hath flown away
In a night- or in a day-
In a vision- or in none-
Is it the less gone? -

3

I am standing 'mid the roar
Of a weather-beaten shore,
And I hold within my hand
Some particles of sand-
How few! and how they creep
Thro' my fingers to the deep!
My early hopes? no- they
Went gloriously away,
Like lightning from the sky
At once- and so will I.

4

So young? ah! no- not now-
Thou hast not seen my brow,
But they tell thee I am proud-
The lie- they lie aloud-
My bosom beats with shame
At the paltriness of name
With which they dare combine
A feeling such as mine
Nor Stoic? I am not:
In the terror of my lot
I laugh to think how poor
That please "to endure!"
What! shade of Zeno!- I!
Endure!- no- no- defy.

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