All thoughts, all creeds, all dreams are true, All visions wild and strange; Man is the measure of all truth Unto himself. All truth is change: All men do walk in sleep, and all Have faith in that they dream: For all things are as they seem to all, And all things flow like a stream. II There is no rest, no calm, no pause, Nor good nor ill, nor light nor shade, Nor essence nor eternal laws: For nothing is, but all is made, But if I dream that all these are, They are to me for that I dream; For all things are as they seem to all, And all things flow like a stream. Argal.--This very opinion is only true relatively to the flowing philosophers. (Tennyson's note.) XXIV =Song= I The lintwhite and the throstlecock Have voices sweet and clear; All in the bloomèd May. They from the blosmy brere Call to the fleeting year, If that he would them hear And stay. Alas! that one so beautiful Should have so dull an ear. II Fair year, fair year, thy children call, But thou art deaf as death; All in the bloomèd May. When thy light perisheth That from thee issueth, Our life evanisheth: Oh! stay. Alas! that lips so cruel dumb Should have so sweet a breath! III Fair year, with brows of royal love Thou comest, as a King. All in the bloomèd May. Thy golden largess fling, And longer hear us sing; Though thou art fleet of wing, Yet stay. Alas! that eyes so full of light Should be so wandering! IV Thy locks are full of sunny sheen In rings of gold yronne,[C] All in the bloomèd May, We pri' thee pass not on; If thou dost leave the sun, Delight is with thee gone, Oh! stay. Thou art the fairest of thy feres, We pri' thee pass not on. [Footnote C: His crispè hair in ringis was yronne.--Chaucer, _Knight's Tale_. (Tennyson's note.)] =Contributions to Periodicals 1831-32= XXV =A Fragment= [Published in _The Gem: a Literary Annual_. London: W. Marshall, Holborn Bars, mdcccxxxi.]