FANCY IN NUBIBUS

O! it is pleasant, with a heart at ease,

　Just after sunset, or by moonlight skies,

To make the shifting clouds be what you please,

　Or let the easily persuaded eyes

Own each quaint likeness issuing from the mould

　Of a friend's fancy; or with head bent low

And cheek aslant see rivers flow of gold

　'Twixt crimson banks; and then, a traveller, go

From mount to mount through Cloudland, gorgeous land!

　Or list'ning to the tide, with closéd sight,

Be that blind bard, who on the Chian strand

　By those deep sounds possessed with inward light,

Beheld the Iliad and the Odyssee

Rise to the swelling of the voiceful sea.

1817