I LAY in dusky solitude reclined, The shadow of sleep just hovering o'er mine eyes, When from the cloudland in the western skies Rose the strange breathings of a tremulous wind. As sound upborne o'er water, through some blind, Mysterious forest, so this wind did rise. Laden, methought, with half-articulate sighs, Wafted like spirit-memories o'er the mind. Then the night deepened; through my window-bars I saw the gray clouds billowing fast and free, Smit by the splendor of the solemn stars. Then the night deepened; wind and cloud became A blended tumult, crossed by spears of flame, While the great pines moaned like a moaning sea. |