Gaily bedight, A gallant knight, In sunshine and in shadow, Had journeyed long, Singing a song, In search of Eldorado. But he grew oldโ This knight so boldโ And oโer his heart a shadowโ Fell as he found No spot of ground That looked like Eldorado. And, as his strength Failed him at length, He met a pilgrim shadowโ โShadow,โ said he, โWhere can it beโ This land of Eldorado?โ โOver the Mountains Of the Moon, Down the Valley of the Shadow, Ride, boldly ride,โ The shade replied,โ โIf you seek for Eldorado!
Edgar Allan PoeIn the one instance, the dreamerloses sight of this object in a wilderness of deductions and suggestionsuntilhe finds the incitamentum, or first cause of his musings,... forgotten. In my case, the primary object was invariably frivolous, although assuming, through the medium of my distempered vision, a refracted and unreal importance.
Edgar Allan Poe