Imitation

by Edgar Allan Poe

Published 1827


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A dark unfathom’d tide 
Of interminable pride—
A mystery, and a dream, 
Should my early life seem; 
I say that dream was fraught 
With a wild, and waking thought 
Of beings that have been, 
Which my spirit hath not seen,
Had I let them pass me by, 
With a dreaming eye! 
Let none of earth inherit 
That vision on my spirit; 
Those thoughts I would controul,
As a spell upon his soul: 
For that bright hope at last 
And that light time have past, 
And my worldly rest hath gone 
With a sight as it pass’d on, 
I care not tho’ it perish 
With a thought I then did cherish.


Imitation,” one of many poems by Edgar Allan Poe, was published in 1827. The poem was later revised and became “A Dream Within a Dream.”