Uncollected Poems of James Russell Lowell :: :: University of Virginia Library

II

And eloquence and song are called to swell,
With music's dreamlike witchery and prayer,
The faltering cadence of the sad farewell,
And beauty's heart-inspiring smile is there,
And brilliant eyes more softly beam to tell,
That in the moment's sadness they too share,
Like stars, seen fainter through some filmy veil,
Which makes their light seem purer, though more pale.