At Waking

&nbsp When night was lifting,
And dawn had crept under its shade,
&nbsp Amid cold clouds drifting
Dead-white as a corpse outlaid,
&nbsp       &nbsp With a sudden scare
&nbsp       &nbsp I seemed to behold
&nbsp       &nbsp My Love in bare
&nbsp       &nbsp Hard lines unfold.

&nbsp Yea, in a moment,
An insight that would not die
&nbsp Killed her old endowment
Of charm that had capped all nigh,
&nbsp       &nbsp Which vanished to none
&nbsp       &nbsp Like the gilt of a cloud,
&nbsp       &nbsp And showed her but one
&nbsp       &nbsp Of the common crowd.

&nbspShe seemed but a sample
Of earth's poor average kind,
&nbsp Lit up by no ample
Enrichments of mien or mind.
&nbsp       &nbsp I covered my eyes
&nbsp       &nbsp As to cover the thought,
&nbsp       &nbsp And unrecognize
&nbsp       &nbsp What the morn had taught.

&nbsp O vision appalling
When the one believed-in thing
&nbsp Is seen falling, falling,
With all to which hope can cling.
&nbsp       &nbsp Off: it is not true;
&nbsp       &nbsp For it cannot be
&nbsp       &nbsp That the prize I drew
&nbsp       &nbsp Is a blank to me!