In the edition of 1815, this was placed among the "Poems of the Fancy." In 1820 it became one of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."—Ed.
With how sad steps, O Moon, thou climb'st the sky,
"How silently, and with how wan a face!"[A]
Where art thou? Thou so often seen on high[1]
Running among the clouds a Wood-nymph's race!
Unhappy Nuns, whose common breath's a sigh 5
Which they would stifle, move at such a pace!
The northern Wind, to call thee to the chase,
Must blow to-night his bugle horn. Had I
The power of Merlin, Goddess! this should be:
And all the stars, fast as the clouds were riven,[2] 10
Should sally forth, to keep thee company,[3]
Hurrying and sparkling through the clear blue heaven;[4]
But, Cynthia! should to thee the palm be given,
Queen both for beauty and for majesty.
The sonnet of Sir Philip Sidney's, from which the two first lines are taken, is No. XXXI. in Astrophel and Stella. In the edition of 1807 these lines were printed, not as a sonnet, but as No. III. in the series of "Poems composed during a Tour, chiefly on foot;" and in 1807 and 1815 the first two lines were placed within quotation marks.—Ed.
VARIANTS:
[1] 1837.
... Thou whom I have seen on high 1807.
[2] 1837.
And all the Stars, now shrouded up in heaven, 1807.
And the keen Stars, fast as the clouds were riven, 1820.