Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

NOCTURNE by DENISE BARRETTE

First Line: PALE UPON THE MIDNIGHT STREAM
Last Line: TO TELL PERFECTION PASSED.
Pale upon the midnight stream
Where waxen lilies lie,
White shadows in the moonlight gleam --
Two swans are floating by.

Serenely hushed and silently they go;
No sorrow can deflower
The cooling peace that lies as snow
On this communion hour.

Each folded wing from marble breast
Is like a gentle sigh,
So quietly they seem to rest
Between the wave and sky.

Upon the pathway of the lake
From which they drift at last,
No feather mars their virgin wake
To tell perfection passed.



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