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I saw thee in a vision of the night Transfigured; for it seemed that on thy brows The heavens did rest with all their stars, like boughs Laden with blossoms; round thy feet the bright Green waves, like grass, ran rippling, strewn with white Star-fragments of rent petals: wasted vows, And ruined prayers I thought them, such as house In hearts that love and are not loved aright.

John Evelyn Barlas#3

PoetryBeautyLossLoveRegretVision

About this quote

What does it mean?
Barlas recounts a vision of a loved one transfigured by beauty, contrasting with wasted vows and unrequited love.
In plain terms
He saw his loved one as a divine vision but associated it with wasted vows and unreturned love.
What can you take from it?
Beauty in loss can coexist with regret over unrequited feelings.

Where it applies

  • romantic loss
  • spiritual vision
  • artistic inspiration

Putting it to work

  • channel grief into art
  • reflect on lost love
  • seek beauty in pain

Questions to consider

  • Can vision heal pain?
  • How do we see those we love?

Another view

Idealizing a vision may obscure the harshness of unrequited reality.

More from John Evelyn Barlas

  1. As I go musing through this mournful land Soothed by the pine-tree's solemn harmony, Thy well-loved image comes and walks by me. I seem to hold thee by the gen…

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  2. Loved once for ever loved: how surely sounds This gospel to me since I learned to list Truth from thy lips, mine own evangelist. What thought presumes to set n…

    Permalink to quote #1

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