Ever let the Fancy roam,
Pleasure never is at home.

Ever let the Fancy roam,
Pleasure never is at home.

Let fancy still in my sense in Lethe steep;
If it be thus to dream, still let me sleep!

Let fancy still in my sense in Lethe steep;
If it be thus to dream, still let me sleep!

She's all my fancy painted her,
She's lovely, she's divine.

She's all my fancy painted her,
She's lovely, she's divine.

Two meanings have our lightest fantasies,
One of the flesh, and of the spirit one.

Two meanings have our lightest fantasies,
One of the flesh, and of the spirit one.

We figure to ourselves
The thing we like, and then we build it up
As chance will read more

We figure to ourselves
The thing we like, and then we build it up
As chance will have it, on the rock or sand:
For Thought is tired of wandering o'er the world,
And homebound Fancy runs her bark ashore.

Sad fancies do we then affect,
In luxury of disrespect
To our own prodigal excess
read more

Sad fancies do we then affect,
In luxury of disrespect
To our own prodigal excess
Of too familiar happiness.

Tell me where is fancy bred,
Or in the heart, or in the head?
How begot, how read more

Tell me where is fancy bred,
Or in the heart, or in the head?
How begot, how nourished?
Reply, reply.
It is engend'red in the eyes,
With gazing fed, and fancy dies
In the cradle where it lies.

The truant Fancy was a wanderer ever.

The truant Fancy was a wanderer ever.

While fancy, like the finger of a clock,
Runs the great circuit, and is still at home.

While fancy, like the finger of a clock,
Runs the great circuit, and is still at home.