Art.

A Phantasy.     I know not how I found you      With your wild hair a-blow,     Nor why the world around you      Would never let me know:     Perhaps 't was Heaven relented,     Perhaps 't was Hell resented     My dream, and grimly vented      Its hate upon me so.     In Shadowland I met you      Where all dim shadows meet;     Within my heart I set you,      A phantom bitter-sweet:     No hope for me to win you,     Though I with soul and sinew     Strive on and on, when in you      There is no heart or heat!     Yet ever, aye, and ever,      Although I knew you lied,     I followed on, but never      Would your white form abide:     With loving arms stretched meward,     As Sirens beckon seaward     To some fair vessel leeward,      Before me you would glide.     But like an evil fairy,      That mocks one with a light,     Now near, you led your airy,      Now far, your fitful flight:     With red-gold tresses blowing,     And eyes of sapphire glowing,     With limbs like marble showing,      You lured me through the night.     To some unearthly revel      Of mimes, a motley crew,     'Twixt Angel-land and Devil,      You lured me on, I knew,     And lure me still! soft whiling     The way with hopes beguiling,     While dark Despair sits smiling      Behind the eyes of you!