I STOOD as one enchanted, All in the forest deep: As one that wond'ring wanders, Dream-bound within his sleep. A thousand rustling footsteps Pattered upon the ground; A thousand whisp'ring voices Made the wide silence, sound. Some murmured deep and deeper, Like waves in solemn seas; Some breathed sweet and sweeter, Like elves on moon-lit leas. Tall ferns, washed down in sunlight, Beckoned with fingers green; Tall flowers nodded strangely, With white and glimm'ring sheen; They sighed, they sang so softly, They stretched their arms to me; My heart, it throbbed so wildly, In weird tumultuous glee. I staggered in the mosses, It seemed to drag me down Into the gleaming bushes; To fall, to sink, to drown. When lo! thro' scared foliage, A lovely bird did fly; And looked at me so knowing, With bright and curious eye; It broke out into warbles, And singing sped away; But I, like one awakened, Fled down the mossy way. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MARY AND GABRIEL by RUPERT BROOKE JEPHTHA'S DAUGHTER by GEORGE GORDON BYRON OH! WEEP FOR THOSE by GEORGE GORDON BYRON ON FIRST ENTERING WESTMINSTER ABBEY by LOUISE IMOGEN GUINEY VOICES OF THE NIGHT: PRELUDE by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW THE CRADLE SONG OF THE POOR by ADELAIDE ANNE PROCTER IN MEMORIAM A.H.H.: 47 by ALFRED TENNYSON |