The Dreamer

The Dreamer written by Walter de la Mare

Motley and Other Poems (1918)

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O thou who giving helm and sword,
    Gav'st, too, the rusting rain,
And starry dark's all tender dews
        To blunt and stain:

Out of the battle I am sped,
    Unharmed, yet stricken sore;
A living shape amid whispering shades
        On Lethe's shore.

No trophy in my hands I bring,
    To this sad, sighing stream,
The neighings and the trumps and cries
        Were but a dream.

Traitor to life, of life betrayed:
    O, of thy mercy deep,
A dream my all, the all I ask
        Is sleep.

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