DREAMS

Be gentle, O hands of a child;

Be true: like a shadowy sea

In the starry darkness of night

Are your eyes to me.

But words are shallow, and soon

Dreams fade that the heart once knew;

And youth fades out in the mind,

In the dark eyes too.

What can a tired heart say,

Which the wise of the world have made dumb?

Save to the lonely dreams of a child,

“Return again, come!”