Announcing, with its silver sheen, the coming Queen of Night;
And now I lingered on the lake her advent high to see,
When stealing through the breezeless night came sounds of melody.
And from the mantling mist emerged a slowly gliding boat,
Which seemed in that imperfect light upon the mist to float;
And now I lingered on the lake a wild, sad song to hear,
And deemed it all too sweet for sound of this terrestrial sphere.
That seraph song to silence sank, the boat swept slowly past,
But soon another strain was heard as sweet as was the last;
And still I lingered on the lake in strange entrancement held,