Poetry Revisited: A Fancy by Helen Leah Reed

A Fancy

(from Memorial Day and Other Verse: 1917)

The world of dreams is all my own,
Wherein I wander – free, alone; –
And each weird, fervid fantasy
Is dearer than earth’s joys to me.
The waking world I share with you;
And yours, as mine, is the ocean's blue.
For us both spring’s early flowers are fair,
Or the cold stars gleam through the frosty air.

But in the world of dreams I rove
Over sunny fields, or in shaded grove, –
Such beauty your eyes never saw –
And all is mine without let or law.
Ah! the hopes and fears that come and go
With my flying fancy, none may know;
Though unsubstantial, it seems
My real world – this world of dreams.

Helen Leah Reed (1860-1926)
American teacher and author of children’s books