O thou! meek Orb! that stealing o'er the dale Cheer'st with thy modest beams the noon of night! On the smooth lake diffusing silvery light, Sublimely still, and beautifully pale! What can thy cool and placid eye avail, Where fierce despair absorbs the mental sight, While inbred glooms the vagrant thoughts invite, To tempt the gulf where howling fiends assail? O, Night! all nature owns thy tempered power; Thy solemn pause, thy dews, thy pensive beam; Thy sweet breath whispering in the moonlight bower, While fainting flow'rets kiss the wandering stream! Yet, vain is every charm! and vain the hour, That brings to maddening love, no soothing dream! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DOUGLASS by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR ASPECTS OF THE PINES by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE GEORGE WASHINGTON by JOHN HALL INGHAM THE WIDOW AT WINDSOR by RUDYARD KIPLING WHEN I BUY PICTURES by MARIANNE MOORE |