To search its cause? Along the illumined wall,
Startling yet riveting the eyes of all,
Darkly it moves,—a hand, a human hand,
O’er the bright lamps of that resplendent hall,
In silence tracing, as a mystic wand,
Words all unknown, the tongue of some far-distant land!
There are pale cheeks around the regal board,
And quivering limbs, and whispers deep and low,
And fitful starts!—the wine, in triumph pour’d,
Untasted foams, the song hath ceased to flow,