But light from out the lurid sea Streams up the turrets silently— Gleams up the pinnacles far and free- Of sculptured ivy and stone flowers— Whose wreathèd friezes intertwine The viol, the violet, and the vine. The melancholy waters lie. So blend the turrets and shadows there That all seem pendulous in air, While from a proud tower in the town Death looks gigantically down. There open fanes and gaping graves But not the riches there that lie In each idol's diamond eye Not the gaily-jewelled dead. Tempt the waters from their bed; For no ripples curl, alas! Along that wilderness of glass No swellings tell that winds may be No heavings hint that winds have been But lo, a stir is in the air! The wave-there is a movement there! As if the towers had thrust aside, In slightly sinking, the dull tide As if their tops had feebly given A void within the filmy Heaven. The hours are brcatling faint and low- Down, down that town shall settle hence, Hell, rising from a thousand thrones, THE SLEEPER. AT midnight, in the month of June, I stand beneath the mystic moon. An opiate vapour, dewy, dim, Exhales from out her golden rim, And, softly dripping, drop by drop, Upon the quiet mountain top, Steals drowsily and musically Into the universal valley. The rosemary nods upon the The lily lolls upon the wave; grave; Wrapping the fog about its breast, The ruin moulders into rest; Looking like Lethe, see! the lake A conscious slumber seems to take. And would not, for the world, awake. Oh, lady bright! can it be right-- Flit through thy chamber in and out, And wave the curtain canopy So fitfully-so fearfully Above the closed and fringèd lid Sure thou art come o'er far-off seas, Strange is thy pallor! strange thy dress The lady sleeps! Oh, may her sleep, Heaven have her in its sacred keep! I pray to God that she may lie For ever with unopened eye, While the dim sheeted ghosts go by! My love, she sleeps! Oh, may her sleep As it is lasting, so be deep! Soft may the worms about her creep! Far in the forest, dim and old, For her may some tall vault unfold Some vault that oft has flung its black |