There shines the moon, at noon of night -- Vision of glory -- Dream of light! Holy as heaven -- undimmed and pure, Looking down on the lonely moor -- And lonelier still beneath her ray That drear moor stretches far away Till it seems strange that aught can lie Beyond its zone of silver sky -- Bright moon -- dear moon! when years have past My weary feet return at last -- And still upon Lake Elnor's breast Thy solemn rays serenely rest And still the Fern-leaves sighing wave Like mourners over Elbe's grave And Earth's the same but Oh to see How wildly Time has altered me! Am I the being who long ago Sat watching by that water side The light of life expiring slow From his fair cheek and brow of pride? Not oft these mountains feel the shine Of such a day -- as fading then, Cast from its fount of gold divine A last smile on the heathery plain And kissed the far-off peaks of snow That gleaming on the horizon shone As if in summer's warmest glow Stern winter claimed a loftier throne -- And there he lay among the bloom His red blood dyed a deeper hue Shuddering to feel the ghostly gloom That coming Death around him threw -- Sickening to think one hour would sever The sweet, sweet world and him forever To think that twilight gathering dim Would never pass away to him -- No -- never more! That awful thought A thousand dreary feelings brought, And memory all her powers combined And rushed upon his fainting mind. Wide, swelling woodlands seemed to rise Beneath soft, sunny, southern skies -- Old Elbe Hall his noble home Towered 'mid its trees, whose foliage green Rustled with the kind airs that come From summer Heavens when most serene And bursting through the leafy shade A gush of golden sunshine played; Bathing the walls in amber light And sparkling in the water clear That stretched below -- reflected bright The whole wide world of cloudless air -- And still before his spirit's eye Such well known scenes would rise and fly Till, maddening with despair and pain He turned his dying face to me And wildly cried, 'Oh once again Might I my native country see! But once again -- one single day! And must it -- can it @3never@1 be? To die -- and die so far away When life has hardly smiled for me -- Augusta -- you will soon return Back to that land in health and bloom And then the heath alone will mourn Above my unremembered tomb For you'll forget the lonely grave And mouldering corpse by Elnor's wave' -- | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HIRAM POWERS' GREEK SLAVE by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING SONNET TO GUIDO CAVALCANTI by DANTE ALIGHIERI A COUNTRY BURIAL by EMILY DICKINSON WITH FLOWERS by EMILY DICKINSON ASTROPHEL AND STELLA: 110 by PHILIP SIDNEY CHRISTMAS, 1917 by BRENT DOW ALLINSON |