Henry Alford

Sonnet XXXIII. "Before the day the gleaming dawn doth flee:--"

Before the day the gleaming dawn doth flee:-- All yesternight I had a dreary dream: Methought I walked in desert Academe Among fallen pillars; and there came to me All in a dim half--twilight silently A very sad old man: his eyes were red With over--weeping: and he cried and said, ``The light hath risen, but shineth not on me. '' Beautiful Athens, all thy loveliness Is like the scarce--remembered burst of spring When now the summer in her party--dress Hath clothed the woods, and filled each living thing With ripest joy: because upon our time Hath risen the noon, and thou wert in the prime.