Classic Poem

I saw in dream a dapper mannikin
That walked on stilts, each stride an ell or more;
While linen and a dainty dress he wore,
But it was coarse and smirched and stained within.
All inwardly was mean and poor and thin,
Yet with a stately seeming lackered o'er;
His words were full of bluster, and he bore
Himself like one well used to fight and win.
“And know'st thou who he is? Come, look and guess!”
So spake the God of Dreams, and showed me then
Within a glass a billowy multitude.
The mannikin before an altar stood,
My love beside him: both of them said, Yes!
And countless fiends laughed loud and cried