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In the Morning

Chapter 14: IN SOMNO VERITAS.

By Willis Boyd Allen

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About This Book

A sequence of lyric poems that meditates on dawn, nature, and spiritual feeling, often deploying mountain, forest, and seaside imagery to probe grief, consolation, and renewal. Poems move among quiet pastorals, occasional and domestic verse, devotional hymns, translations, and lighter nonsense pieces, following seasonal rhythms and holiday observances. The voice shifts between elegiac introspection and bright affirmation, favoring sensory detail—birdsong, running water, sunlight—and a consolatory outlook that finds moral and emotional sustenance in simple scenes and ritual moments.

IN SOMNO VERITAS.

I dreamed that I sat in my chamber

And watched the dancing light

Of the blaze upon my hearthstone,

And the red brands, glowing bright.

I listened to the rustle

Of the flames that rose and fell,

And I dreamed I heard a whisper,

A voice I knew full well.

The room no more was lonely,

A Presence sweet was there,

A girlish figure, standing,

Beside my own arm-chair.

I dreamed I spoke, and trembling

Lest she should prove to be

The creature of a vision,

I bade her sit by me.

Her grave brown eyes she lifted,

Her dear hand placed in mine,—

The air was sweet with incense

Of odorous birch and pine,—

And as we watched together

Those eager, dancing flames,

We talked of days forgotten,

And spoke our childish names.

I dreamed that heaven seemed nearer,

The skies a lovelier blue,

Then—was it still a vision?—

I dreamed my dream came true!