III.
But restless dreams should then have peace,
And sorrow be banished from view,
And anguish and toil forever cease;—
For I’d know if one heart be true.
An Autumnal Dirge.
I.
PALE shines the sun through azure-lidded clouds
That softly float in ambient light arrayed,
And a dull, shadowy gloom anon enshrouds
The leafless forest and the opening glade.
II.
No sound is heard save the soft-chanting waves
Low murmuring on the shadowy-mantled sea,
And the sad, moaning dirges in their caves
Struggling, like fettered spirits, to get free.
III.
But as the day declines, the slanting beams
In mellow lustre shine so calm and pure;
A radiant flood of sunset glory streams,
That lovelier grows and lovelier grows obscure.