The Flight.
With flying gleams, the moon of March1
Beats on the wind-blown lattices,2
Whose Norman casements flame and fade,3
Vague lightnings through the chesnut-trees :4
With tumult whitening on its skirts,5
Rolls, to the west, one thunder cloud ;6
And, in the blue air overhead,7
The stars sit in a golden crowd—8
As, down the river, flowing fast,9
With silence and the night we float,10
A glory on the castle walls,11
And darkness on our lonely boat.12
Far up the levels of the flood,13
’Mid branching oak and sycamore,14
A dizzy splendour floats and swims15
Across the currents to the shore :16
Bright, where the waters welter black,17
In brimming spaces, dark and slow,18
A blank, rich splendour in the tide,19
The moon dips in an amber glow—20
As down the river, drifting fast21
With silence and the night we float,22
A glory on the castle walls,23
And darkness on our lonely boat.24
At times, high up the lands of corn,25
The roofs of sleeping villages,26
Old chimneys, smoked and quaintly slacked,27
Old tabards, swinging in the breeze,28
Gray steeple-tops, and belfries brown,29
Red tapers winking through the night,30
And gables, overgrown with vine,31
Rush past, like beacons on our flight—32
As down the river, to the sea,33
Amid the tranquil night we float,34
Faint splendours on the castle walls,35
And darkness round our lonely boat.36
Like giant cities, to the south,37
The peak’d hills prop the rifted cloud ;38
And, through the gorges, dark with fern,39
The mountain torrents thunder loud.40
The plains are steaming to the moon,41
The white ash glimmers by the stream,42
And, in the meadows crisped with frost,43
The cattle couch within the beam—44
As down the river, broadening fast,45
Thro’ swathing foam, we swiftly float,46
Dim, dimmer still, the castle walls,47
And darkness on our lonely boat.48
Far, in the north, where shifts and flits49
Yon vexed brightness, in the skies,50
The temple walls and mighty domes51
Of the imperial city rise.52
Hurrah ! the frothing rapids roar.53
Along the forests on our lee ;54
Back, like a phantom, reels the shore,55
Our boat is on the wild fresh sea.56
Out on the green and wrinkled tides,57
’Mid silence and the stars we float ;58
Prayer on our lips, peace in our hearts,59
And moonlight on our lonely boat.60