Days and Hours :: :: University of Virginia Library

Deeper the shadows frown;
The winds have furl'd their wings, and thro' the trees
Burns the red West; upon the flaming sky
Some purple clouds, like happy islands, lie,
Kiss'd by the ebbing tide of magic seas;
The crested hills are dark, the champaign and the town.

II

Deeper the shadows spread;
Along the vineyards the last songs have ceased,
The mountain streams thro' rocky valleys torn
Moan from afar; but lo! the Ghost of Morn,
The breathless Moon soars thro' the sombre East,
And dimly shows the World, like Memories of the Dead.

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III

But one sweet Mourner keeps
Lone vigils; in that hour 'twixt Night and Day,
When the proud streams of the great sea of Light
Were ebbing slowly out of mortal sight,
I heard a wild bird in the twilight gray
Singingsad notes divine, like Love that wakes and weeps.

IV

In gloom of cypress bowers
He sang apart of glories past away;
Oh! of young love he sang, of lovely things
Of Youth, of hopes flown by upon the wings
Of Sunset, of proud strength no arts could stay,
Of bliss no strength can bind, dead triumphs, crownless powers:

V

The weary and heartbreaking
He sang, who see from off Time's dim gray shore
The sunken tide of the World's blessed years,
And thro' the twilight stretch their arms with tears
To those wing'd shapes that flee for evermore
Thro' amber gates of Eve, and leave the sad forsaken.

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VI

Then was there silence deep
Like Death—and to the West the Moon descended;
But when I heard no more that song forlorn,
Ah! then it seemed that I was left to mourn,
I only on the Earth, forgot, unfriended,
No heart should beat again, no eye awake from sleep.

VII

No tongue should speak again—
No loving eyes again look into mine—
Nor silver stream be heard, nor winged breeze,
Nor the sun soar again above the seas,
On the hush'd World no resurrection shine,
And with Despair my heart lie as the moonless plain.