Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A.G.A. (3), by EMILY JANE BRONTE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

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First Line: There shines the moon, at noon of night
Last Line: And mouldering corpse by elnor's wave' --
Alternate Author Name(s): Bell, Ellis


There shines the moon, at noon of night --
Vision of glory -- Dream of light!
Holy as heaven -- undimmed and pure,
Looking down on the lonely moor --
And lonelier still beneath her ray
That drear moor stretches far away
Till it seems strange that aught can lie
Beyond its zone of silver sky --

Bright moon -- dear moon! when years have past
My weary feet return at last --
And still upon Lake Elnor's breast
Thy solemn rays serenely rest
And still the Fern-leaves sighing wave
Like mourners over Elbe's grave
And Earth's the same but Oh to see
How wildly Time has altered me!
Am I the being who long ago
Sat watching by that water side
The light of life expiring slow
From his fair cheek and brow of pride?
Not oft these mountains feel the shine
Of such a day -- as fading then,
Cast from its fount of gold divine
A last smile on the heathery plain
And kissed the far-off peaks of snow
That gleaming on the horizon shone
As if in summer's warmest glow
Stern winter claimed a loftier throne --
And there he lay among the bloom
His red blood dyed a deeper hue
Shuddering to feel the ghostly gloom
That coming Death around him threw --
Sickening to think one hour would sever
The sweet, sweet world and him forever
To think that twilight gathering dim
Would never pass away to him --
No -- never more! That awful thought
A thousand dreary feelings brought,
And memory all her powers combined
And rushed upon his fainting mind.
Wide, swelling woodlands seemed to rise
Beneath soft, sunny, southern skies --
Old Elbe Hall his noble home
Towered 'mid its trees, whose foliage green
Rustled with the kind airs that come
From summer Heavens when most serene
And bursting through the leafy shade
A gush of golden sunshine played;
Bathing the walls in amber light
And sparkling in the water clear
That stretched below -- reflected bright
The whole wide world of cloudless air --
And still before his spirit's eye
Such well known scenes would rise and fly
Till, maddening with despair and pain
He turned his dying face to me
And wildly cried, 'Oh once again
Might I my native country see!
But once again -- one single day!
And must it -- can it never be?
To die -- and die so far away
When life has hardly smiled for me --
Augusta -- you will soon return
Back to that land in health and bloom
And then the heath alone will mourn
Above my unremembered tomb
For you'll forget the lonely grave
And mouldering corpse by Elnor's wave' --





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