 | The poet, the fool and the faeries |  |
132
DOLOROUS NIGHT
All night long I heard it raining,
And the trees
To the flowers, still remaining,
Kept complaining
Without cease.
All night long I heard a weeping
As of grief,
While the autumn wind kept sweeping
Branch and leaf.
And the trees
To the flowers, still remaining,
Kept complaining
Without cease.
All night long I heard a weeping
As of grief,
While the autumn wind kept sweeping
Branch and leaf.
All the night I heard a crying.—
Was it rain?—
Or a sorrow trailing, flying,
Dimly sighing
At my pane?
All the night I heard a beating
As of wings,
And a voice that kept repeating
Many things.
Was it rain?—
Or a sorrow trailing, flying,
Dimly sighing
At my pane?
All the night I heard a beating
As of wings,
And a voice that kept repeating
Many things.
At my window, that was shuttered,
Once the wind
Tapped;—or was't a leaf that fluttered,
Darkly muttered,
At my blind?—
Was it Autumn?—Or, unsheathing
Black his blade,
Death? who stood there darkly breathing
Where Night swayed.
Once the wind
Tapped;—or was't a leaf that fluttered,
Darkly muttered,
At my blind?—
133
Black his blade,
Death? who stood there darkly breathing
Where Night swayed.
Was't the ghost of some departed
Love, long lost?
Driven like the leaves that darted,
Broken-hearted,
Tempest-tossed?—
All its wild hair dripped November,
Dark and wet. ...
What it wailed the woods remember—
I forget.
Love, long lost?
Driven like the leaves that darted,
Broken-hearted,
Tempest-tossed?—
All its wild hair dripped November,
Dark and wet. ...
What it wailed the woods remember—
I forget.
| The poet, the fool and the faeries | |