Classic Poem

'Neath midday heat, in Dagestana's Vale,
With leaden ball in breast I lifeless lay;
From a deep wound smoke rose upon the gale,
And drop by drop my life-blood ebbed away.

Alone I lay upon the sandy slopes;
The craggy cliffs around me crowded steep;
The sunlight burned upon their yellow tops,
And burned on me who slept no mortal sleep.

A dream I dreamed, and saw in sparkling bowers
An evening feast in my home, — far away, —
Where young and lovely women, crowned with flowers,
Conversed of me in accents light and gay.

But, in their happy talk not joining, one
Sat far apart, and plunged in thought she seemed;
And oh! the mystery knows God alone, —
This was the dream her young soul sadly dreamed.

She saw in vision Dagestana's Vale,
Where on the slope a well-known body lay;
From the black wound smoke rose upon the gale,
And in cold streams the life-blood ebbed away.