 | Poems Lyrical and Dramatic |  |
237
SONNET.
Ope, starry mystery of the eternal skies!
To-night I walk the verges of the grave:
The shallow things that charm life and enslave
Fall off: the gaunt world stands without disguise.
To-night I walk the verges of the grave:
The shallow things that charm life and enslave
Fall off: the gaunt world stands without disguise.
Ope, starry mystery, to the world-sick eyes:
Unfold, thou aching void, to thoughts that crave
The secret of thy secret, though I rave.
Better to rave than live in sick surmise.
Unfold, thou aching void, to thoughts that crave
The secret of thy secret, though I rave.
Better to rave than live in sick surmise.
The moon, and all the stars about the pole,
Swim round me, and I travel in dull pain,
A dumb Want in the solitude of Time.
Swim round me, and I travel in dull pain,
A dumb Want in the solitude of Time.
238
What means it all? Whence comes, and to what goal?
Whence, what am I whose life seems all in vain?—
Earth, sea, and sky stand silent and sublime.
Whence, what am I whose life seems all in vain?—
Earth, sea, and sky stand silent and sublime.
| Poems Lyrical and Dramatic | |