XXXIX
Reading edition
A Dream of Fair Women
[In the 1833 volume the poem opened with the following four verses, suppressed after 1842. These Fitz Gerald considered made 'a perfect poem by themselves.']
As when a man, that sails in a balloon, Downlooking sees the solid shining ground Stream from beneath him in the broad blue noon, Tilth, hamlet, mead and mound: And takes his flags and waves them to the mob That shout below, all faces turned to where Glows rubylike the far-up crimson globe, Filled with a finer air: So, lifted high, the poet at his will Lets the great world flit from him, seeing all, Higher thro' secret splendours mounting still, Self-poised, nor fears to fall. Hearing apart the echoes of his fame. While I spoke thus, the seedsman, Memory, Sowed my deep-furrowed thought with many a name Whose glory will not die.