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In visions of the dark night
  I have dreamed of joy departed-
But a waking dream of life and light
  Hath left me broken-hearted.

Ah! what is not a dream by day
  To him whose eyes are cast
On things around him with a ray
  Turned back upon the past?

That holy dream- that holy dream,
  While all the world were chiding,
Hath cheered me as a lovely beam
  A lonely spirit guiding.

What though that light, thro’ storm and night,
  So trembled from afar-
What could there be more purely bright
  In Truth’s day-star?

Edgar Allan Poe

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