I. IT glooms forlornly 'mid wan ocean dunes, A desolate grave-mound on a dreary lea, Touched by sad splendors of gray-misted moons, Or veiled by shivering spray-drifts from the sea. There, all unmarked, the dim days come and go; No tender hand renews its crumbling turf, On which the o'erwearied sea-winds faintly blow, Blent with far murmurings of the mournful surf. Vaguely the uncompanioned hours flit by, Wrapped in pale clouds that sometimes mutely sweep Some ghost of Lethe haunts that hollow sky, Where even the doubtful noontides seem asleep, Save when autumnal tempests fiercely rise, Baring the harbor-mouth's black teeth of rocks, And like a Maenad, with wild hair and eyes, Raves from the North the infuriate Equinox. II. Here, peace divine, o'er glimmering grove and grass, Hallows the sunshine in the noon's warm lull; Ethereal shadows gently pause, or pass, Flecking with gold the hill-slope beautiful. This grave, all wreathed with flowers and glad with spring Looks skyward like a half-veiled, museful eye, Which answers subtly while the woodbirds sing Heaven's smile of forecast immortality. Can deathly dust pervade a spot so sweet? Or hath the form it guarded stolen away, And ere its hour of ransom, gone to meet The unborn soul of Resurrection Day? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE: 26 by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING WHEN ON THE MARGE OF EVENING by LOUISE IMOGEN GUINEY HYMN FOR EPIPHANY by REGINALD HEBER TO THE MEMORY OF MY BELOVED MASTER WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE by BEN JONSON DOCTOR FELL by MARCUS VALERIUS MARTIALIS BETWEEN WAND AND WELT by MARGARET AHO |