I.
Love gave me a Dream in the years that have fled
From the glorified joys of her beautiful home,
And over the world of the living and dead
It has followed forever [wherever] I roam;
And over the mountains and through the black night
It has guided my feet with its wonderful light.
II.
It has joyed at the triumphs that came with renown,
And its rapture surpassed what the multitudes knew;
It has grieved at the failure that lost me the crown,
With a faithful devotion unknown to but few;
Through Despair's heavy shadow and Hope's holy gleam,
How my lips still were kissed by the lips of the Dream!
III.
It has wept with my sorrow,—the sorrow that fell
Where the heart battled hard with the merciless foe;
It has laughed with my laughter when fortune was well
And the blossoms of triumph were blooming below;
And far through the black and the bright of each year
It has followed my feet till it followed me here.
IV.
O, the Dream that has lived through the years of the lost,
That with constancy shares all the paths I have trod,
Never leave me alone till the harbor is crossed
And I stand in the power and the presence of God;
And on through the ages no glory shall seem
Half so sweet as the love of my Dream,—of my Dream!