A Vision of Aphrodite (Way)

The golden-sandalled Dawn, meseemed,
Let down from heaven a splendour-stair;
And I saw floating earthward there
My Queen, Love's Queen.
All round her a cloud-halo gleamed
With shimmering lights shot through and through
Of many a hue.
From her fair Lydian sandals streamed
The broidery-sheen.
Doves, circling round in mazy rings
Of rapture, this way, that way glanced:—
But even as I gazed entranced,
A bitter wind, methought, 'gan blow.
Their hearts turned cold, they drooped their wings,
And faded all that glorious show.
I woke—I had but dreamed!