So I left him awake, and watching there through the long night, and felt that the children of earth have still something that unites them to the spirits of a finer race, so long as they retain amongst them the presence of real love!" And oh! is there not a truth also in our fictions of the Unseen World?
Are there not yet bright lingerers by the forest and the stream?
Do the moon and the soft stars look out on no delicate and winged forms bathing in their light?
Are the fairies and the invisible hosts but the children of our dreams, and not their inspiration?
Is that all a delusion which speaks from the golden page?
And is the world only given to harsh and anxious travellers that walk to and fro in pursuit of no gentle shadows?
Are the chimeras of the passions the sole spirits of the universe?
No! while my remembrance treasures in its deepest cell the image of one no more,--one who was "not of the earth, earthy;" one in whom love was the essence of thoughts divine; one whose shape and mould, whose heart and genius, would, had Poesy never before dreamed it, have called forth the first notion of spirits resembling mortals, but not of them,--no, Gertrude! while I remember you, the faith, the trust in brighter shapes and fairer natures than the world knows of, comes clinging to my heart; and still will I think that Fairies might have watched over your sleep and Spirits have ministered to your dreams..