Frederick Philip Grove
LANDSCAPES
(IM 16-28)

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e-Edition by Gaby Divay
© August 2007

University of Manitoba Libraries	FPG & FrL Collections	University of Manitoba Archives

A DREAM VISION [53] by Frederick Philip Grove I dreamt a dream as I lay in bed;      And much as follows was its gist. I saw her rise from out her grave      Like to a moon-lit, midnight mist. I saw the grave-hill, the winding road,      And on it her, in a night-bred sheen[54] And down the road and through the town      She glided to where her home had been. And still she seemed to be made of mist      And to flow not to go as she glided there: As if she had been exhaled from the pores      Of the earth and condensed in the lower air. And thus for a moment she paused at the gate      Before she raised her hand to the latch. Then, up two steps, and she stood in the porch      And she pressed her heart as her breath to catch. And then she opened the door of the house       And entered the hall and the room beyond. There, thus it seemed to me in my dream,       Sat I as sit those who despond. And on the threshold she made pause        And stood, her hand still on her heart, And looked at me sadly; I could not stir,        And from my lips a moan did part. And clearly as if she had spoken the words        Her look did say, "How can this be? "You are here, I am there; you live, I am dead;       "The living have not kept faith with me. "Here on earth I was never, never alone.       "There was comfort in your slightest touch "At evenfall when we walked through the dusk.       "For that touch I long, oh, I long so much!" And then she approached as glides a dream        And sat down by my side on the arm of my chair As she often had done when she still was here;        But now she was light, ah, lighter than air. And her arm stole softly around my neck:       My heart swelled up at the touch till it broke. And I saw nothing: I lay in the dark        As, in beaded anguish, I awoke.[55] In Memoriam 32