A CRYSTAL night!—with moon and the clear wind Through tree-tops! On the lately-frozen earth Silence has come, and end of the loud flaunt Of Summer. Now the crueler powers possess The fields and hills; now the corporeal bloom Yields to mere beauty, and the golden grass, The scarlet leaves, take empire. What a throne,— This season of waste fruitage! Through this night, Empty except for the high sailing moon And the fierce winds that in long reckless sweep Tear at men's doors,—through this clear shaken night A ghost might walk as on the battlements Of Elsinore, and a new Hamlet speak With no surprise to him. The trembling branches,— Bare, desolate, impossible as home Of nesting birds,—like a Cimmerian lace Sway in the winds. ... Did not a poet sing "O Moon of my Delight!"—how long ago He sang that! But this keen tempestuous hour A different moon lives. Oh white night! with moon And clear wind through the tree-tops! Icy night, That had no fellow till I came to you! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DEEDS OF VALOR AT SANTIAGO by CLINTON SCOLLARD FRIENDSHIP [OR, THE TRUE FRIEND] by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE BROWN PENNY by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS PEREGRINUS by LASCELLES ABERCROMBIE ODES: BOOK 1: ODE 7. ON THE USE OF POETRY by MARK AKENSIDE FROM HIDDEN SOURCE by JEAN ANDERSON |