Come to Me in My Dreams
This originally started out as a story for a completely different category (I normally write Gargoyles fics) but somehow it molted into a Harry Potter fic. It's my first time working with Slash so if that's not your cup of tea then I suggest you read something else. Don't say I didn't warn you.
This being said, I tip my hat to the great J.K. Rowling for creating the characters in the Harry Potter universe. She owns everything but the ideas squiggling around in my brain that ended up flowing into this story and out on the Internet. I bow to her, bless her for it and no infringement intended. I promise I'll put everyone back where I found them when I'm done.
On a separate note, the title for this story is actually the first line in a poem by Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) titled "Longing" (I think) and since I don't own that either I'm sticking this disclaimer on so none of his long lost relatives will show up on my doorstep trying to sue me. The entire poem may be found at the end of this story.
Happy reading
ShadowRunner
Somehow without realizing he'd done so, he'd gone from riding on the back of a Hungarian Horntail over the mountains of Romania with his brother Charlie to standing in the middle of an empty Hogwarts Quidditch pitch wearing his Keeper's robes.
Looking around in confusion, he saw Harry standing alone on the far side of the pitch. The ruffled haired wizard was wearing his own scarlet and gold Seeker robes and grinning for all the world like he'd just captured the worlds most difficult Snitch.
Harry motioned to him, but as he closed the distance between them he frowned inwardly. He could almost feel the intense but fierce core of power that represented Harry Potter's existence in the world; the dark haired teenager was radiating energy that both frightened and intrigued him.
When he was within arms reach, Harry casually pulled out his wand and gestured at the brilliant blue sky, which abruptly shifted into night. However, in the wake of the sudden darkness, the sky was filled with all manner of planets, stars, and constellations.
He was momentarily stricken speechless as words failed to capture the quiet beauty. The moon shimmered faintly above as a fresh breeze swept over them. The pitch, normally a loud and noisy environment, had been transformed into an utterly peaceful place and not wanting to break the spell of the enchanted setting he cast he eyes back over his friend.
Harry's expression slowly became serious as he lowered his wand and tucked it back in his robes. With an almost somber expression, he tentatively held out his hand.
Although no overt offering had been voiced, he intuitively knew what his reaction would be. A prickly and all too familiar feeling began to build in the pit of his stomach as he held out his own hand.
Their initial contact was hesitant; almost uncertain, and then without uttering a word, Harry gently pulled Ron towards him...
Ron Weasley woke with a jolted and sat up in his bed with his heart beating wildly and his body lathered in sweat. Rubbing his eyes hard enough to make stars appear behind the lids, he tried to shake off the effects of the dream but his efforts were too of no avail. Considering the number of times he'd had this dream (or some variation of this dream) he knew it would take more than rubbing his eyes to make the feelings go away.
But somehow this dream felt different… it felt more… real.
Sighing, he shifted around until his long, gangly legs slipped over the edge of his bed. In the darkness of Gryffindor Tower, he listened to the rain as it pelted the dormitory windows.
Not wanting to wake the others, Ron rose from his bed and cautiously made his way through the clutter created by five teenage boys who lived in close proximity to each other to stand by the window. It was just after midnight and little by little the sounds of rain hitting the glass lulled Ron as he watched the tiny beads of water gather, bead, and then slide down the windowpanes.
As if from a great distance, the grunted sleeping sounds the other Gryffindors pull him from his reprieve and he turned to gaze at the pulled curtains of their respective beds.
Eventually his eyes fell upon the loosely drawn curtains of Harry's four-poster bed and idly he wondered what 'The Boy Who Lived' would make of this dream. Not that he had any intention of telling him because Ron wasn't entirely sure how to deal with the shift his dreams had taken regarding his best friend over the past few months.
Besides, Harry had enough on his plate dealing with his own dreams without Ron adding something like this to the mix.
Forcibly, Ron averted his gaze back to the window; however, he couldn't stop his thoughts from wandering back to the subject of Harry's dreams. He knew Harry was still dreaming because he had told him so shortly after he arrived at the Burrow for the summer holidays. At the time he looked worn and frazzled, as if he hadn't slept properly during the few weeks he'd been stuck at #4 Privet Drive. When Ron asked what was up, Harry reluctantly admitted he was having "funny dreams" but before Ron could say anything, he quickly added his dreams didn't involve Voldemort (just thinking the name made Ron cringe) and that certain members of the Order of the Phoenix knew he was having them.
In fact, by all accounts it sounded as though several members of the Order believed them to be a positive sign as it meant Harry's unconscious was finally working through all the pain and suffering he'd endured over the past five years.
Ron disagreed; however, he'd yet to voice that particular sentiment to anyone.
How could Harry dreaming about all the people he feared might die, or seeing every decision he'd ever made result in horrifying, not to mention devastating events, be viewed as helpful? Moreover, how could Bellatrix Lestrange's telling Harry he shouldn't have survived the Dark Lord's curse because it upset the balance of nature and that's why she killed Sirius be viewed as a positive way for him to deal with the guilt he already felt about his godfather's death in the first place?
The answer was simple but at the same time complex; simple in that the dreams, which were better described as nightmares, didn't help and complex (but more significant in Ron's opinion) because no one actually knew what Harry's dreams involved since he hadn't been entirely open with the details.
However, by luck or misfortune, Ron did know the details of Harry's nightmares as he had experienced many of them first hand.
And no one, to include Harry, knew that either.
Ron shuddered in the darkness. He initially began experiencing nightmares over the summer and coincidently not long after Harry arrived at the Burrow. The timing was not entirely lost on him, but at the time it never occurred to him to question them as not being of his own creation. After the first occurrence, he'd woken with a jolt but since his nightmares normally involved a very large number of spiders spinning him into a midnight snack, this alteration was an interesting, if not unsettling, change.
Nonetheless, and considering the nature of the nightmare, Ron figured it would be in poor taste to tell Harry about it.
Four nights later Ron experienced another nightmare that was so disturbing he'd been physically ill when he awoke. He'd been forced to race to the bathroom to avoid becoming sick in his own bed but upon returning to his room, he found Harry thrashing so violently in his own bed that he was in danger of strangling himself with the sheets.
It took a considerable amount of time to untangle him and even longer for Ron to wake Harry; however, when he awaken, Harry said he couldn't recall what he'd been dreaming about. In fact, he'd gone on to say that if he had a nightmare then why did Ron look like he'd been beaten over the head with a particular heavy broomstick?
As Ron was still unwilling to tell anyone about his nightmares, he told Harry to sod off and added that Harry had some nerve telling him he looked like he'd been beaten with a broom when he looked like he'd been stomped on by a particularly irate Hippogriff.
By the third nightmare, Ron was so put off by his dreams that he finally broke down and told Harry about them. After hearing about them and learning what they involved, Harry was naturally unnerved but he quickly discounted them by suggesting the large number of chocolate frogs Ron consumed before going to bed at night could have been the cause.
But something about his overall demeanor changed and Ron suspected the reason for the shift centered around the fact that his dreams were somehow mirroring Harry's nightmares.
Nightmares Harry claimed he didn't remember but in reality did.
In hindsight, Ron knew he should have told someone, his mother perhaps… but he didn't.
Instead, he began researching nightmares, which meant educating himself on the subject of dreaming in general… which paradoxically meant seriously exploring the matter of Divination; a subject Ron never put any kind of serious effort into learning because, in his opinion, it was pointless.
While Hermione Granger might have been thrilled with his sudden interest in studies, Molly Weasley was evidently more concerned about her youngest son's growing exhaustion and fatigue. When she suggested a visit to St. Mungo's Hospital might be in order, Ron balked by saying the Ghoul in the attic had been keeping him up at night and that he was fine.
Ron also made a mental note of the surprised, but somewhat judgmental look on Harry's face when he made this statement.
Eventually, Ron's covert studies paid off and it wasn't long before he figured out the dreams he was having were actually Harry's and that somehow he was unconsciously 'jumping' into them. This discovery, while enlightening, triggered a new dilemma as Ron had no idea how he had been doing what he was doing and he certainly couldn't ask anyone about it either.
In spite of this apparent obstacle, at some point Ron discovered that by focusing his efforts he could, in effect, control and direct his jumps. His initial attempts had been difficult and on several occasions completely disastrous not to mention misdirected (the night he found himself wandering around in one of Ginny dreams had been disturbing to say the least). However, by the end of the summer, he'd all but mastered the ability and now found jumping into Harry's dreams a rather easy thing to do.
Conversely, determining which dreams were nightmares and which were not had proven to be a more difficult task as Harry's dreams tended to be rather fluid. In retrospect, Ron knew he should have expected this since most of Harry's waking thoughts tended to revolve around more pain, suffering, and loss than any one wizard should be allowed. It stood to reason his subconscious would have a lot more to work through while he was asleep.
Ironically, it was a combination of these factors which caused Ron to employ two important restrictions on his jumps; first and foremost he limited his interventions to only extreme situations and secondly, he always concealed his presence when entering Harry's dreams.
The first restriction was for obvious reasons; Harry needed time to heal and that meant coming to terms with certain people and events in his life. However, if the dreams threatened to overwhelm him and had no other purpose than to torment (like the time Belletrix Lestrange showed up), then Ron felt he was well within his rights to act.
The second restriction was less clear and based more on intuition because no matter what Ron's intent might have been, something told him Harry might be less than amused to find him lurking around in the shadows of his dreams.
Granted there had been a few close calls but as far as Ron was concerned, he'd been more than successful in his endeavors and Harry was none the wiser.
Ron was pulled from his thoughts by a brilliant display of forked lightning which streaked across the night sky. It was a spectacular sight; but the distant sound of thunder reminded him of the late hour. Turning away from the window, he moved back to his bed and out of habit cast one last glance over to Harry's bed. He very nearly yelled out as he realized Harry's curtains were now pulled back and he could see him sitting hunched forward on his bed with his arms wrapped around his knees, staring absently into the darkness.
Ron leaned forward and whispered, "Did the storm wake you?"
Initially there was no response but then unexpectedly Harry turned towards him. There was something haunted about his gaze and Ron understood too late that his friend wasn't looking at him, but rather through him, as if he wasn't there at all. Puzzled, Ron lifted his wand from his nightstand and moved towards the other bed. He whispered Lumos and almost immediately the interior of Harry's four-poster was flooded with light.
"Harry?" He whispered again.
A shudder ran through Harry's body and he flinched away from the light as if burned. He whispered Nox and Ron's wand light flicked out.
Now completely confused, Ron stepped forward and asked, "Harry, what's wrong?"
"Go away…" He hissed and on some level looked pleased that the intensity in his whispers almost made Ron step back.
For a moment Ron just stood there, listening as Harry's breath hissed through his teeth and only now did Ron notice that his own hands were trembling. He took a deep breath and crossed his arms over his chest but before he could stop himself he asked, "Did you have another nightmare?"
"What could you possibly know about my nightmares?" Harry said in a low tone.
Had he not been feeling so overly uncomfortable about his own dream, Ron might have let the question slide and chalked the entire conversation up to Harry's irritation at being awoken in the middle of the night, but something about his snappish tone struck a nerve and Ron quickly realized the statement had nothing to do with Harry's legendary moodiness.
It was an accusation, which in Ron's mind could only mean one thing; he knew or at least suspect that his best mate had been popping in and out of his dreams. Distantly, Ron wondered if the accusatory tone might also mean Harry knew about his dreams but he quickly dismissed the notion as he sat down on the edge of Harry's bed.
"Let me explain…" he began slowly.
"You don't have to explain anything Ronald Weasley, so why don't you go back to your bed before I do something I may not regret later."
This time Ron did flinch. His full name, so seldom used by Harry much less anyone one else, had been voiced as a threat.
Although his reaction was not completely unexpected, Ron was still unnerved by the verbal assault, resenting the abuse but understanding the feeling of betrayal from which it was born. He cringed inwardly at the twisting pain in Harry's voice… pain that fed his fury and left him lashing out at the one person he never expected to betray his trust.
Mentally Ron kicked himself as he slid fully onto the bed and pulled the curtains back into place. As an after thought, he cast a Privacy Charm over them as he figured this conversation was about to take a turn for the worst and he'd just assume not have the others privy to their row.
When he turned back Harry was already moving towards him, trying to force him off the bed and back out into the room. Under normal circumstances, and had the attack been taken against someone like Dean or Neville, the attempt would have been mostly effective. However, Ron expected this having gown up with more than enough siblings who often times resorted to such tactics when trying to take over a bed.
Harry was faster than Ron; they'd established this many times before but Ron's determination lent him strength and much faster Harry expected, Ron was able to twist around until Harry was pinned beneath him. The dark haired wizard continued to struggle and fight until Ron said firmly, "Stop it, Harry or I'll hex you!"
To his own credit, Ron hadn't meant what he said but the response from Harry was nearly immediate. His face twisted with lines of rage and for a moment Ron almost didn't recognize him. However, still feeling the need to explain, Ron formed a grim expression of his own and released him. Harry rolled way but continued to glare as Ron said, "I shouldn't have done what I did. I know I hurt you and I'm sorry."
Then, completely unexpectedly, he handed his wand over to Harry. There was no particular self-pity in the act. Ron just looked resigned, as though he fully believed he deserved whatever punishment Harry might inflect on him with his own wand.
Harry for his part was so taken aback that, for a moment, he didn't realize he'd even accepted his friend's wand.
Ron shrugged fatalistically. "You must think I'm the world's biggest gitt."
"No… No, I don't." For reasons Harry wasn't quite ready to delve into, it seemed important that Ron understand he wasn't exactly mad at him. Flustered, Harry waived off Ron's continued attempts to apologize with a sigh as he reached over to put his glasses on. "This isn't something you can fix Ron."
The pair settled into an uncomfortable silence until Ron asked, "How long have you known?"
"I suspected something might be up after you first told me about your nightmares." Harry paused for moment and considered, as if trying to decide how much more to say and finally settled on, "I knew for sure when you told your mum the Ghoul in the attic was keeping you up at night."
Ron gaped at him and fittingly, had the grace to look stricken as he cried out, "But that was ages ago! Why didn't you say something earlier?"
"I didn't see a point since…" Harry's voice faltered as he suddenly realized Ron had no clue as to magnitude of what he'd accomplished. The red head shifted uncomfortably on the bed and what Harry saw in those crystal blue eyes tore at his heart. "Merlin's beard, you have no idea do you?" he said softly.
Ron's brow pulled tight as he had a feeling he really didn't want to hear what Harry was going to say. "No idea about what?"
"Didn't you ever wonder why or even how you could jump into my dreams if I'd learned how to do Occulmency properly?" Harry asked tentatively.
"No," Ron replied mulishly but it was evident that he probably had wondered about this but for whatever reason chose not to think about it too much.
"Well you should of, because according to The Dream Oracle only a powerful wizard, or more specifically a Seer, could have accomplished what you did without using some kind of dark magic." Harry paused and as an after thought added, "Professor Trelawney will have kittens when she finds out."
Ron stared at him uneasily. "That's not funny Harry."
Harry shook his head and not for the first time, wondered why Ron refused to accept that he had developed some kind of affinity for the Sight and had been using it for some time now. That subject aside, Harry also knew this would probably be the only time this whole matter might be discussed so casually. He leaned back against his headboard and tried to think how to begin and ultimately decided the direct approach might work best. "For the most part you did it on your own but once I caught on, I started helping you out by limiting my use of Occulmency."
His voice drifted again as he allowed Ron time to digest this information. A few minutes later the red head glanced over to the curtains as if to verify the Privacy Charm was still in effect. Seemingly satisfied he said with a low chuckle, "Well it certainly explains why it got easier."
"Not entirely," Harry said after a slight hesitation. He was about to delve into a realm Ron would probably find less amusing but after coming this far, his conscience wouldn't allow him to keep silent any longer. "Because I think… well that's not right… I know that after I figured out what you were doing, I started trying to pull you into some of my dreams… ones that weren't nightmares…"
Ron's head snapped up and around immediately. "Can you do that?"
The lull in conversation felt like an eternity, although it was probably less than a couple of seconds. Finally Harry said, "Yeah… I can now."
Ron somehow managed to look both perplexed and panic-stricken at the same time. "But why would you want to do something like that?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Harry muttered under his breath.
Silence descended once more as understanding slowly dawned on Ron's face; however, upon seeing his reaction, Harry looked away, feeling his face slowly turn red. Now that the subject was out in the open, he realized how uncomfortable he was with it. "If it makes you feel any better tonight was the first time it worked and I obviously can't keep you in the dream… not if you don't want to be there."
Ron nodded having heard very little of what Harry said. He couldn't decide whether to feel relieved or silly but as it turned out it didn't matter because Harry quickly asked the question he'd obviously wanted to address since the beginning of this conversation. "So now that you know, how do you feel about it?" he asked softly.
Ron grinned a little crookedly and said, "Well, I think it's disgusting, mate. Now get off my bed and give me back my wand."
"It's my bed!" Harry retorted angrily. He knew Ron was trying to make light of the situation but it still took a significant amount of effort not to curse his friend with his own wand, as Ron evidently didn't fully understand what Harry's actions implied. "I just want to know how you feel about this." He pressed.
"Harry," Ron began patiently. "If I tell you I don't care, you'll sit here and brood over it all night. If I tell you I do care you'll think it's for all the wrong reasons." He paused for a moment. "Since I can't see how I can win it hardly matters how I feel. How do you feel about it?"
"Dammit, Ron, I already know how I feel about this!" Harry's exasperated feeling jumped a notch as he continued to glare at his friend. "I want to know how you feel about another bloke fancying you and as long as we're on the subject, it should matter since you and Hermione…"
Harry stopped abruptly and realized he didn't know exactly what, if any, agreement his two best friends had reached but like the rest of the occupants of Gryffindor Tower, he assumed…
"I think she lost interest after I called her 'Harry' one night…" Ron said softly.
Harry blinked. "You what?"
"It's not what you think… it happened in one of my dreams… we were… well it really doesn't matter what we were doing… but anyway I ended up calling her 'Harry' by mistake." Ron rubbed his fingers over his face but his eyes darkened as if a new thought had only now occurred to him. "Of course, now that I think about it, there's a very good chance it might not have been my dream at all..."
When Ron didn't continue Harry said, "All right, I'll bite. Why wouldn't it have been your dream?"
"If I go to sleep with too much on my mind, my thoughts tend to wander," Ron replied ambiguously, "and if I'm not careful I'm liable to jump into someone else's dream by mistake."
"I didn't realize you could do that." Harry said as his heart began to pound. For some reason, the very idea of Ron jumping into other people's dreams, accidentally or otherwise, bothered him. "I thought it was just mine."
"Well that was my intention when I started doing this." Ron said quietly. "Most of the time I can figure it out but sometimes…"
"Does Hermione know you were in her dream?" Harry replied in what he hoped was a neutral tone because he knew everything about this conversation was sparking a finely tuned nerve in Ron.
"Dunno, I never asked her about it." he said at last. "But I think she must know on some level."
Harry looked at him sideways. "Why's that?"
Ron considered the question for a moment before answering. "Not long after that dream I overheard her telling Ginny that she was writing Victor Krum again."
Harry nodded, chewing his lip slightly as feeling a dread washed over him. "Ron, I'm so sorry… If I'd have known…"
"Don't be…" Ron said cutting him off but his voice was distant and distracted.
"That's rather decent of you," Harry said blandly.
Ron looked at him as if he had taken leave of his senses. "What are you getting on about?"
"What if my warped desire to pull you into something you obviously don't want to be a part of made you call Hermione by my name?" Harry swallowed hard. "Considering the damage I've probably done to your relationship, I'd say your being down right noble about this!"
"I'm not being noble." Ron replied as he stroked his chin thoughtfully. "And for the record you didn't pull me into anything I wasn't looking for already."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Harry asked, in an exasperated tone.
"It means I've been having dreams about you for a while now." Ron almost laughed as Harry's eyes widened in disbelief. "Long before you figured out a way to pull me into your dreams."
The words hung there like a bombshell and it was some time before Harry found the ability to speak. "I had no idea…"
"Well, it's not like I told you." Ron said and with a mischievous smile added, "Or even showed you for that matter."
Harry averted his eyes in mild embarrassment but tried to cover it by adjusting his glasses. In many ways it was a relief to finally have the truth out in the open but still he couldn't help but feel strangely disappointed. Initially he assumed Ron fled the dream was because he'd been upset, unsettled or at the very least appalled by Harry's actions; however, it now appeared the reason he fled was because he actually wanted to be there, which didn't make any sense either.
Harry was about to ask him to explain what happened when Ron said, "So what do we do now?"
Forgoing his original question for the moment Harry raised his hands in a gesture of uncertainty but then slowly he let them drop back to the bed and said, "You know Sirius said something to me a while back that I just now beginning to understand."
Ron could almost feel Harry's anxiety as he recalled the details of some private conversation he'd had with his godfather and not wanting to press his friend but being naturally curious about their discussion asked, "What was that?"
Harry smiled, sadly but genuinely. "Well it's kind of hard to explain but the long and the short of it was that I shouldn't live my life brooding over what could have been and that I needed to be happy living with what is."
As Ron wasn't entirely sure why Sirius Black might make this kind of a statement to Harry (unless he somehow knew or suspected his feelings for Ron went beyond that of being best friends) he said, "Well, I always said Snuffles was pretty smart bloke."
Harry nodded although he couldn't immediately recall a specific time when Ron might have said that. "I want to be able to do that, but first I have to know something and I need you to be completely honest with me. Can you do that?"
Ron regarded Harry closely as he knew outwardly he was nearly back to his normal self, but he was still walking around with an open wound.
It would be a long time before he was fully reconciled to everything that had happened over the course of his life.
It might be more than a long time.
It might be never.
But what he found most troubling was the fact that neither the Dark Lord nor any of his Death Eaters had delivered the worst blow of all.
Blimey Dumbledore, Ron thought. If you had just been straight with Harry from the beginning maybe he wouldn't be so quick to assume the rest of us are going to be less than honest whenever he asks a question.
"You have my word."
The words were spoken with complete conviction and Harry heard the truth in them. He took a deep breath and said, "I need to know that we can handle this because there can be no turning back and I can't do it half way so if you're serious, we have to do it one hundred percent."
Correctly, Ron recognized this was not the question he needed to answer and remained quiet as Harry collected his thoughts on the question that would ultimately redefine the parameters of their friendship.
Harry hesitated again before speaking. "Because the way I see it, if things work out between us, we are going to have a huge problem, and if they don't, we are still going to have a huge problem." He cautiously held Ron's wand out to him. "I guess my question is, can you deal with that?"
Ron took it and set it aside as he moved closer so that his eyes would be firmly locked onto Harry's intense green eyes. He nodded briefly, trying to ally his friend's fears and asked, "Are you're asking me if we will still be friends if things don't work out between us?"
Harry nodded. "Ron, you are my best friend, and I don't know what I'd do if we screwed that up."
"We won't screw it up…" Ron said simply.
"Are you willing to risk everything for this?" Harry questioned.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because I've only got one life, Harry, and this is it. Like Sirius said, I can either grab this chance and live it to the fullest or I can let it pass by and spending the rest of my life regretting it." Ron allowed a wide grin spread across his face. "Don't be such a prat, Harry. It's not like we have to figure this all out tonight. We'll work it out like we always do."
And with that said he hastily pulled Harry into a somewhat rough and awkward embrace. For a panicked moment he felt Harry's body stiffen; however, he didn't resist and Ron took this as a positive sign.
Gradually, Harry relaxed and the two of them remained this way for sometime until Harry snuggled down with his head resting against Ron's shoulder. Not long after, Ron sensed that Harry must have fallen asleep and lifting his wand, he cast a quick boost to the Privacy Charm before carefully tucking the blankets over them both. He was just drifting off himself when Harry murmured, "You never told me why you didn't you stay in my dream tonight."
"You didn't ask." Ron muttered thickly.
Harry shoved him lightly. "Fine, I'm asking now. Why didn't you stay in my dream tonight?"
"I didn't know it was yours. I thought it was mine and before you ask, no, my dreams have never gone any further than yours did tonight." He lowered his head until his chin was resting on the top of Harry's head. "Besides, to have done anything in a dream would have been…"
"Weird?" Harry finished.
"Not the word I was looking for," Ron said as he smiled against Harry's head. "But, yeah…"
Harry lifted his head and studied Ron's face in the dim light. "So how do you know this isn't a dream?"
"Dunno," Ron admitted. "I guess I just do…"
"Ahhhh…" Harry replied as he lowered his head back down. "You'll make Professor Trelawney proud yet."
This time it was Ron's turn to shove him under the blankets. "That's still not funny Harry…"
"You're right, it's not." Harry replied sleepily but it was obvious he did think it was funny since he made no effort to suppress his snort of amusement before drifting off to sleep.
Come to me in my dreams, and then
By day I shall be well again!
For so the night will more than pay
The hopeless longing of the day.
Come, as thou cam'st a thousand times,
A messenger from radiant climes,
And smile on thy new world, and be
As kind to others as to me!
Or, as thou never cam'st in sooth,
Come now, and let me dream it truth,
And part my hair, and kiss my brow,
And say, My love why sufferest thou?
Come to me in my dreams, and then
By day I shall be well again!
For so the night will more than pay
The hopeless longing of the day.
Matthew Arnold (1822-1888)