Editor’s NoteEditor’s NoteXXVTHE PILGRIM'S DREAM;or, the star and the glow-worm

[Composed 1818.—Published 1820.]

• 1A Pilgrim, when the summer day
• 2Had closed upon his weary way,
• Critical Apparatus3A lodging begged beneath a castle's roof;
• Critical Apparatus4But him the haughty Warder spurned;
• Critical Apparatus5And from the gate the Pilgrim turned,
• 6To seek such covert as the field
• Critical Apparatus7Or heath-besprinkled copse might yield,
• 8Or lofty wood, shower-proof.

• 9He paced along; and, pensively,
• 10Halting beneath a shady tree,
• 11Whose moss-grown root might serve for couch or seat,
• 12Fixed on a Star his upward eye;
• 13Then, from the tenant of the sky
• 14He turned, and watched with kindred look
• 15A Glow-worm, in a dusky nook,
• 16Apparent at his feet.

• 17The murmur of a neighbouring stream
• 18Induced a soft and slumbrous dream,
• 19A pregnant dream, within whose shadowy bounds
• 20He recognised the earth-born Star,
• Critical Apparatus21And That which glittered from afar;
• 22And (strange to witness!) from the frame
• 23Of the ethereal Orb, there came
• 24Intelligible sounds.

• pg 16225Much did it taunt the humble Light
• Critical Apparatus26That now, when day was fled, and night
• 27Hushed the dark earth, fast closing weary eyes,
• 28A very reptile could presume
• 29To show her taper in the gloom,
• 30As if in rivalship with One
• 31Who sat a ruler on his throne
• 32Erected in the skies.

• 33"Exalted Star!" the Worm replied,
• 34"Abate this unbecoming pride,
• 35Or with a less uneasy lustre shine;
• 36Thou shrink'st as momently thy rays
• 37Are mastered by the breathing haze;
• 38While neither mist, nor thickest cloud
• 39That shapes in heaven its murky shroud,
• 40Hath power to injure mine.

• 41"But not for this do I aspire
• 42To match the spark of local fire,
• 43That at my will burns on the dewy lawn,
• 44With thy acknowledged glories;—No!
• Critical Apparatus45Yet, thus upbraided, I may show
• 46What favours do attend me here,
• 47Till, like thyself, I disappear
• 48Before the purple dawn."

• 49When this in modest guise was said,
• 50Across the welkin seemed to spread
• 51A boding sound—for aught but sleep unfit!
• 52Hills quaked, the rivers backward ran;
• 53That Star, so proud of late, looked wan;
• 54And reeled with visionary stir
• 55In the blue depth, like Lucifer
• 56Cast headlong to the pit!

• 57Fire raged: and, when the spangled floor
• 58Of ancient ether was no more
• 59New heavens succeeded, by the dream brought forth:
• 60And all the happy Souls that rode
• pg 163Critical Apparatus61Transfigured through that fresh abode
• 62Had heretofore, in humble trust,
• 63Shone meekly 'mid their native dust,
• 64The Glow-worms of the earth!

• 65This knowledge, from an Angel's voice
• 66Proceeding, made the heart rejoice
• 67Of Him who slept upon the open lea:
• 68Waking at morn he murmured not;
• 69And, till life's journey closed, the spot
• 70Was to the Pilgrim's soul endeared,
• 71Where by that dream he had been cheered
• 72Beneath the shady tree.