MIDNIGHT, and silence deep! -- The air is filled with sleep, With the stream's whisper, and the citron's breath; The fixed and solemn stars Gleam through my dungeon bars -- Wake, rushing wind! this breezeless calm is death! Ye watch-fires of the skies! The stillness of your eyes Looks too intensely through my troubled soul: I feel this weight of rest An earth-load on my breast -- Wake, rushing winds, awake! and, dark clouds roll! I am your own, @3your@1 child, O ye, the fierce and wild And kingly tempests! -- will ye not arise? Hear the bold spirit's voice, That knows not to rejoice But in the peal of your strong harmonies. By sounding ocean-waves, And dim Calabrian caves, And flashing torrents, I have been your mate; And with the rocking pines Of the olden Apennines, In your dark path stood fearless and elate. Your lightnings were as rods, That smote the deep abodes Of thought and vision -- and the stream gushed free; Come, that my soul again May swell to burst its chain -- Bring me the music of the sweeping sea! Within me dwells a flame, An eagle caged and tame, Till called forth by the harping of the blast; @3Then@1 is its triumph's hour, It springs to sudden power, As mounts the billow o'er the quivering mast. Then, then, the canvas o'er, With hurried hand I pour The lava-waves and gusts of my own soul! Kindling to fiery life Dreams, worlds, of pictured strife; -- Wake, rushing winds, awake! and, dark clouds, roll! Wake, rise! the reed may bend, The shivering leaf descend, The forest branch give way before your might; But I, your strong compeer, Call, summon, wait you here, -- Answer, my spirit! -- answer, storm and night! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...NATHAN HALE [SEPTEMBER 22, 1776] by FRANCIS MILES FINCH DENIAL [OR, DENIALL] by GEORGE HERBERT LOVE AND TIME by WALTER RALEIGH A WISH by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI THE MOTHER by ROBERT WILLIAM SERVICE IN MEMORY OF DOCTOR DONNE by R. B. |