Fanny - Edgar Allan Poe

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"To ——,"Baltimore Saturday Visiter, May 11, 1833
To — —
by Edgar Allan Poe

For the Baltimore Visiter.

Sleep on, sleep on, another hour —
   I would not break so calm a sleep,
To wake to sunshine and to show'r,
   To smile and weep.

Sleep on, sleep on, like sculptured thing,
   Majestic, beautiful art thou;
Sure seraph shields thee with his wing
   And fans thy brow —

We would not deem thee child of earth,
   For, O, angelic, is thy form!
But, that in heav'n thou had'st thy birth,
   Where comes no storm

To mar the bright, the perfect flow'r,
   But all is beautiful and still —
And golden sands proclaim the hour
   Which brings no ill.

Sleep on, sleep on, some fairy dream
   Perchance is woven in thy sleep —
But, O, thy spirit, calm, serene,
   Must wake to weep.

Tamerlane

-The End-

[This poem was first attributed to Poe by John C. French. "Tamerlane," of course, is the title of the chief offering in Poe's first published collection of poetry, Tamerlane and Other Poems (1827). One subsequent poem appeared in the Baltimore Saturday Visiter over the name "Tamerlane." This other poem was titled "Fanny" (see below) and was printed in the paper for the following week. Both poems appear without introductory or explanatory text.]

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"Fanny,"Baltimore Saturday Visiter, May 18, 1833
Fanny
by Edgar Allan Poe

For the Baltimore Visiter.

The dying swan by northern lakes
   Sing's [Sings] its wild death song, sweet and clear,
And as the solemn music breaks
   O'er hill and glen dissolves in air ;
Thus musical thy soft voice came,
Thus trembled on thy tongue my name.

Like sunburst through the ebon cloud,
   Which veils the solemn midnight sky,
Piercing cold evening's sable shroud,
   Thus came the first glance of that eye ;
But like the adamantine rock,
My spirit met and braved the shock.

Let memory the boy recall
   Who laid his heart upon thy shrine,
When far away his footsteps fall,
   Think that he deem'd thy charms divine ;
A victim on love's alter [altar] slain,
By witching eyes which looked disdain.

Tamerlane

-The End-