Because her eyes were far too deep
And holy for a laugh to leap
Across the brink where sorrow tried
To drown within the amber tide;
Because the looks, whose ripples kissed
The trembling lids through tender mist,
Were dazzled with a radiant gleam
Because of this I called her “Dream.”
Because the roses growing wild
About her features when she smiled
Were ever dewed with tears that fell
With tenderness ineffable;
Because her lips might spill a kiss
That, dripping in a world like this,
Would tincture death’s myrrh-bitter stream
To sweetness – so I called her “Dream.”
Because I could not understand
The magic touches of a hand
That seemed, beneath her strange control,
To smooth the plumage of the soul
And calm it, till, with folded wings,
It half forgot its flutterings,
And, nestled in her palm, did seem
To trill a song that called her “Dream.”
Because I saw her, in a sleep
As dark and desolate and deep
And fleeting as the taunting night
That flings a vision of delight
To some lorn martyr as he lies
In slumber ere the day he dies
Because she vanished like a gleam
Of glory, do I call her “Dream.”
Love Poem by James Whitcomb Riley
Meaning of the Poem ‘Dream’ by James Whitcomb Riley
In ‘Dream’, Riley paints an ethereal portrait of a woman whose beauty, mystery, and sorrow render her otherworldly; more vision than reality. The speaker is captivated by the depth of her eyes, the gentleness of her tears, and the transformative grace of her presence, all of which evoke a sense of reverence rather than romantic passion. She is not simply a woman, but a symbol of dreamlike transcendence, a figure who soothes the soul and elevates the speaker’s emotional experience beyond the tangible world.
The poem’s tone is tender and melancholic, steeped in longing and awe. Each stanza builds on the mystique of this woman as an almost divine presence, capable of easing sorrow and bestowing sweetness on even death itself. Yet, she is also fleeting. Her departure in a dream suggests impermanence, loss, and the elusive nature of ideal love. In naming her “Dream,” the speaker accepts that she was never meant to remain, and perhaps never real: only a moment of spiritual beauty that passed through his life like a holy vision.
