The Works of Tennyson :: :: University of Virginia Library

What time the mighty moon was gathering light
Love paced the thymy plots of Paradise,
And all about him roll'd his lustrous eyes;
When, turning round a cassia,

(Gk. κασια, a spice like cinnamon), a kind of laurel.

full in view,
Death, walking all alone beneath a yew,
And talking to himself, first met his sight:
‘You must begone,’ said Death, ‘these walks are mine.’
Love wept and spread his sheeny vans

shining wings. Cf. Milton,

Paradise Lost, ii. 927: “At last his sail-broad vans
He spreads for flight.”

for flight;
Yet ere he parted said, ‘This hour is thine:
Thou art the shadow of life, and as the tree
Stands in the sun and shadows all beneath
So in the light of great eternity
Life eminent

standing out like a tree.

creates the shade of death;
The shadow passeth when the tree shall fall,
But I shall reign for ever over all.’