Imitation

 
A dark unfathomed tide
Of interminable pride –
A mystery, and a dream,
Should my early life seem;
I say that dream was fraught
With a wild and waking thought
Of beings that have been,
Which my spirit hath not seen,
Had I let them pass me by,
With a dreaming eye!
Let none of earth inherit
That vision of my spirit;
Those thoughts I would control,
As a spell upon his soul:
For that bright hope at last
And that light time have past,
And my worldly rest hath gone
With a sigh as it passed on:
I care not though it perish
With a thought I then did cherish.
 
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) – Tamerlan and Other Poems, Boston, Calvin F. S. Thomas,‎ 1827.
 

Cover Image:

William Bouguereau (La Rochelle, 1825-1905) – Egalité devant la mort, 1848, oil on canvas, cm 141 x 269,© Musée d’Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais/Patrice SchmidtThe artwork is on show from March 5 to July 5 at Palazzo Ducale (Venice) in the exhibition Henri Rousseau. Il candore arcaico (www.mostrarousseau.it)

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