I HAVE wander'd in the moonlight, And my brow has met the breeze, With its forest-freight of odours, And its soughing like the seas. I have listen'd to the night-bird, As she chaunts her mellow lay; But my heart is very heavy, And I would be far away. The breeze may journey onward With its restless, rustling wings; The bird may ease her bosom, When her sadden'd lay she sings, But my sorrow must be voiceless, Or but spoken when I pray, And I linger here, a captive, When I would be far away! The rude old church seems frowning As it looms upon my eyes, With its corner-stone deep buried, While its spire is in the skies. List, a moral I will read you, From this temple, quaint and gray; Though the clod must seek the valley, Lo, the soul shall soar away! I would step into the church-yard, But at every sleeper's head Stands a tombstone, cold and pallid, Like the spirit of the dead. And I almost see them beckon me, I almost hear them say, -- "There is rest with us, oh! mortal, Come away, then, come away!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HOOKS AND EYES by KAREN SWENSON IN AFTER DAYS; RONDEAU by HENRY AUSTIN DOBSON THE SPHINX by RALPH WALDO EMERSON AFTER THE WINTER by CLAUDE MCKAY FRAGMENTS OF A LOST GNOSTIC POEM OF THE 12TH CENTURY by HERMAN MELVILLE SONNET: 55 by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE |