A CRYSTAL night!—with moon and the clear wind Through tree-tops! On the lately-frozen earth Silence has come, and end of the loud flaunt Of Summer. Now the crueler powers possess The fields and hills; now the corporeal bloom Yields to mere beauty, and the golden grass, The scarlet leaves, take empire. What a throne,— This season of waste fruitage! Through this night, Empty except for the high sailing moon And the fierce winds that in long reckless sweep Tear at men's doors,—through this clear shaken night A ghost might walk as on the battlements Of Elsinore, and a new Hamlet speak With no surprise to him. The trembling branches,— Bare, desolate, impossible as home Of nesting birds,—like a Cimmerian lace Sway in the winds. ... Did not a poet sing "O Moon of my Delight!"—how long ago He sang that! But this keen tempestuous hour A different moon lives. Oh white night! with moon And clear wind through the tree-tops! Icy night, That had no fellow till I came to you! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: SETH COMPTON by EDGAR LEE MASTERS A TEMPLE TO FRIENDSHIP by THOMAS MOORE ODES: BOOK 1: ODE 15. TO THE EVENING STAR by MARK AKENSIDE DELIA. AN ELEGY by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD GONERIL'S LULLABY, FR. KING LEAR'S WIFE by GORDON BOTTOMLEY CASEMENT WINDOWS by CLARISSA BROOKS ARTEMIS PROLOGUIZES by ROBERT BROWNING THE WANDERER: 2. IN FRANCE: SONG by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON |