But the traveller, travelling through it, May not-dare not openly view it ; To the weak human eye unclosed; So wills its King, who hath forbid Beholds it but through darkened glasses. By a route obscure and lonely, Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT, From this ultimate dim Thule. HYMN. T morn―at noon-at twilight dim-- And not a cloud obscured the sky, Thy grace did guide to thine and thee; Now, when storms of Fate o'ercast Darkly my Present and my Past, Let my Future radiant shine With sweet hopes of thee and thine! An opiate vapour, dewy, dim, And, softly dripping, drop by drop, Upon the quiet mountain top, Steals drowsily and musically Into the universal valley. The rosemary nods upon the grave; The lily lolls upon the wave; Looking like Lethe, see! the lake A conscious slumber seems to take, (Her casement open to the skies) Oh, lady bright! can it be right—-—- This window open to the night? The wanton airs, from the tree-top, Laughingly through the lattice dropThe bodiless airs, a wizard rout, Flit through thy chamber in and out, And wave the curtain canopy So fitfully so fearfully Above the close and fringed lid 'Neath which thy slumb'ring soul lies hid, That, o'er the floor and down the wall, Like ghosts the shadows rise and fall! Oh, lady dear, hast thou no fear? Why and what art thou dreaming here? Strange is thy pallor! strange thy dress! Strange, above all, thy length of tress, And this all solemn silentness! The lady sleeps. Oh, may her sleep, Which is enduring, so be deep! Heaven have her in its sacred keep! This chamber changed for one more holy, This bed for one more melancholy, 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, |