In the Evening.
The night is come with all her silver train,1
The moonlight steeps the sea ;2
The hour is come that I can rest again,3
And dream of thee.4
The air is still, the western sky is gold,5
And far on lawn and lea6
The shadows bring the happy thought of old,7
And dreams of thee.8
The sweetest hour of summer day is ending ;9
The song of bird and bee10
To the still time their influence is lending,11
And sing of thee.12
The rest serene on earth and heaven bringeth13
No rest to me ;14
No song to me the lonely night bird singeth,15
Weary for thee.16
Thy shadow haunts the balmy summer even,17
By land and sea ;18
Between me and the happy moonlit heaven19
Rise thoughts of thee.20
I stand beneath the stars, whose quiet shining21
But brings to me22
The thoughts of olden times, the weary pining23
For thee, for thee.24
The lime-tree’s breath comes wafted from the river,—25
The same old tree26
Where, in the happy years gone by for ever,27
I stood with thee.28
O God ! to see the calm familiar faces29
Of sky and sea ;30
To see all things unchanged in the old places,31
But only thee.32
To feel the longing wild, the yearning weary,33
Thy face to see ;34
To feel earth’s brightest scenes grow pale and dreary,35
For want of thee ;36
And know that while the stars shine on in heaven,37
No sun shall bring to me38
Thy presence. Only as it came this even,39
In dreams of thee.40