Our revels are now ended. These our actors
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are read more

Our revels are now ended. These our actors
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air;
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capped tow'rs, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all of which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Is rounded with a sleep.

So little distant dangers seem:
So we mistake the future's face,
Ey'd thro' Hope's deluding glass;
read more

So little distant dangers seem:
So we mistake the future's face,
Ey'd thro' Hope's deluding glass;
As yon summits soft and fair,
Clad in colours of the air,
Which to those who journey near,
Barren, brown, and rough appear.

Fond man! the vision of a moment made!
Dream of a dream! and shadow of a shade!

Fond man! the vision of a moment made!
Dream of a dream! and shadow of a shade!

An angel stood and met my gaze,
Through the low doorway of my tent;
The tent is read more

An angel stood and met my gaze,
Through the low doorway of my tent;
The tent is struck, the vision stays;
I only know she came and went.

My thoughts by night are often filled
With visions false as fair:
For in the past alone, read more

My thoughts by night are often filled
With visions false as fair:
For in the past alone, I build
My castles in the air.

Hence the fool's paradise, the statesman's scheme,
The air-built castle, and the golden dream,
The maid's romantic read more

Hence the fool's paradise, the statesman's scheme,
The air-built castle, and the golden dream,
The maid's romantic wish, the chemist's flame,
And poet's vision of eternal fame.

Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth
the law, happy is he.

Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth
the law, happy is he.

O visions ill foreseen! Better had I
Liv'd ignorant of future, so had borne
My part of read more

O visions ill foreseen! Better had I
Liv'd ignorant of future, so had borne
My part of evil only.

It is a dream, sweet child! a waking dream,
A blissful certainty, a vision bright,
Of that read more

It is a dream, sweet child! a waking dream,
A blissful certainty, a vision bright,
Of that rare happiness, which even on earth
Heaven gives to those it loves.