I watched as day's near evidence The wan stars close their eyes, There from the hill's high eminence The sun in splendor rise; Where dust from Helios' chariot wheels Shone in the vaporous air, The curling smoke that silent steals Uprose in seeming prayer. The blue dome's deep immensity Arched o'er the day at noon, A mantle's velvet density That cradled soft the moon; In mystic splendor—cold, profound, Through screening mists, a blur, That wayward winds by languor bound Did seem to envy her! The aspen leaves moved tenderly Within the molten air, As if ere winds stirred slenderly They felt them bordering there; The shimmering sun in splendor strewed With jewels the streams of June, Where ponderous calm in interlude Leaned heavily o'er the noon. Mid heat the day o'er towering, Intense with grandeur's gleam, The fair plains paused in flowering Where strayed a wayward stream; The day wore on within the dell Across the dreaming moor, Till dusk a benediction fell Along the silent shore. At sunset there was slumbering Mid retrospection's mist, Her hopes and cares encumbering By falling kismet kissed; Amid the sprinkling, wan starlight With time for tranquil dreams, The calm day clasped the hand of night And strolled beside the streams. |