Explore "A Dream" by William Allingham on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
I heard the dogs howl in the moonlight night; / I went to the window to see the sight; / All the Dead that ever I knew / Going one by one and two by two.
On they pass'd, and on they pass'd; / Townsfellows all, from first to last; / Born in the moonlight of the lane, / Quench'd in the heavy shadow again.
Schoolmates, marching as when we play'd / At soldiers once -- but now more staid; / Those were the strangest sight to me / Who were drown'd, I knew, in the awful sea.
Straight and handsome folk; bent and weak, too; / Some that I loved, and gasp'd to speak to; / Some but a day in their churchyard bed; / Some that I had not known were dead.
A long, long crowd -- where each seem'd lonely, / Yet of them all there was one, one only, / Raised a head or look'd my way: / She linger'd a moment -- she might not stay.
How long since I saw that fair pale face! / Ah! Mother dear! might I only place / My head on thy breast, a moment to rest, / While thy hand on my tearful cheek were prest!
On, on, a moving bridge they made / Across the moon-stream, from shade to shade, / Young and old, women and men; / Many long-forgot, but remember'd then.
And first there came a bitter laughter; / A sound of tears the moment after; / And then a music so lofty and gay, / That every morning, day by day, / I strive to recall it if I may.