Tamerlane — section XXIV
Edgar Allan Poe
Poems, New York: Elam Bliss, pp. 123–124.

If my peace hath flown away
In a night — or in a day —
In a vision — or in none —
Is it, therefore, the less gone?
I was standing 'mid the roar
Of a wind-beaten shore,
And I held within my hand
Some particles of sand —
How bright! and yet to creep
Thro' my fingers to the deep!
My early hopes? no — they
Went gloriously away,
Like lightning from the sky —
Why in the battle did not I?