HUSH! heard you that horseman? how madly he rides! God pity the woman his coming that bides! Wild oaths wafted up on the wind as he passed, And a shade o'er the moonlight that moment was cast. What stirs there? No bugle the barracks have blown; No drum beats to quarters; yet, watching alone, While the howl of the dogs fills the midnight with fear, Some foe stealing by in the darkness, I hear. Has the Turk crossed the border? the Tartar come back With the vengeance of murder and fire in his track? There's a foot by the window; a flame on the floor; — And lo! 'twas the wind and the moonbeam — no more. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A CHILD'S PRAYER [OR, HYMN] by MATILDA BARBARA BETHAM-EDWARDS A LITTLE GIRL LOST, FR. SONGS OF EXPERIENCE by WILLIAM BLAKE WRITTEN ON A WALL AT WOODSTOCK by ELIZABETH I ROSALIND'S MADRIGAL, FR. ROSALIND [ROSALYNDE] by THOMAS LODGE TO MUSIC; A FRAGMENT by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY FANCIES AT NAVESINK: 6 by WALT WHITMAN |