FAR from the earth the deep-descended day Lies dim in hidden sanctuaries of sleep. The winged winds couched on the threshold keep Uneasy watch, and still expectant stay The voice that bids their rushing host delay No more to rise, and with tempestuous power Rend the wide veil of heaven. Long watching they Sigh in the silence of the midnight hour. Hark! where the forests slow in slumber sway Below the blue wild ridges, steep on steep, Thronging the sky—how shuddering as they leap The impetuous waters go their fated way, And mourn in mountain chasms, and as they stray By many a magic town and marble tower, As those that still unreconciled obey, Sigh in the silence of the midnight hour. Listen—the quiet darkness doth array The toiling earth, and there is time to weep— A deeper sound is mingled with the sweep Of streams and winds that whisper far away. Oh listen! where the populous cities lay Low in the lap of sleep their ancient dower, The changeless spirit of our changeful clay Sighs in the silence of the midnight hour. Sigh, watcher for a dawn remote and gray, Mourn, journeyer to an undesired deep, Eternal sower, thou that shalt not reap, Immortal, whom the plagues of God devour. Mourn—'tis the hour when thou wert wont to pray. Sigh in the silence of the midnight hour. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE PROTESTATION by THOMAS CAREW AN INTERNATIONAL EPISODE (1889) by CAROLINE KING DUER SONNET PREFIXED TO 'THE COMMONWEALTH & GOVERNMENT OF VENICE' by EDMUND SPENSER THE EAGLE AND THE MOLE by ELINOR WYLIE THE BALLAD OF ORISKANY by OBADIAH CYRUS AURINGER |