Observations placeholder
Wadsworth Longfellow, Henry - Fata Morgana
Identifier
000218
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow – from The Poems of Longfellow [printed about 1875]
from Fata Morgana
I approach and ye vanish away
I grasp you and ye are gone
But ever by night and by day
The melody soundeth on
As the weary traveller sees
In desert or prairie vast
Blue lakes, overhung with trees
That a pleasant shadow cast
Fair towns with turrets high
And shining roofs of gold
That vanish as he draws nigh
Like mists together rolled
So I wander and wander along
And for ever before me gleams
The shining city of song
In the beautiful land of dreams
But when I would enter the gate
Of that golden atmosphere
It is gone and I wander and wait
For the vision to reappear.