The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 6 (of 8)

by William Wordsworth

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I HEARD (ALAS! 'TWAS ONLY IN A DREAM)

Composed 1819.—Published 1819

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."—Ed.

I heard (alas! 'twas only in a dream)

Strains—which, as sage Antiquity believed,

By waking[386] ears have sometimes been received

Wafted adown the wind from lake or stream;

A most melodious requiem, a supreme