Hymn to the Moon

Come forth, sweet spirit ! from thy cloudy cave,
Far in the bosom of the starless night,
And, suddenly above the mountain-top
Lifting thy placid beauty, all at once
Spread a still rapture o'er the encircling earth,
That seems just waking from some heavenly dream.

Hail, soft-browed sovereign of the sea and sky !
Thee heaven and all its glories worship — Thee
Worships old Ocean with his million waves,
And though 'mid fleecy clouds as still as snow,
Or the blue depths of stainless sanctity,
Lies thy beloved way — yet often thou
Art seen careering on a throne of storms,
Seemingly borne on to eternity,
So wild the hurried glimpses of thy face,
Perturbed yet beautiful !

Heardest thou my voice
Stealing along the silent walls of heaven,
And blended softly with the falling dews,
To thine aerial tower ? and lookest thou down
With love and pity on thy worshipper,
Even like an angel on the humble saint
Praying on his knees within his rocky cell.

Yes ! glorious as thou art and beautiful,
Hanging upon the viewless wings of air,
That, wide-stretched through the amplitude of space.

Winnow fresh fragrance over earth and heaven,
Yet art thou meek and humble as a flower
Buried in the heart of forest solitude !
And there thou lingerest on the mountain-top
Listening my song, that boasts no other charm
Than gratitude and piety — in peace
Conceived within my soul, and peaceful breathed
To thee, the fountain of untroubled joy !

Lo ! all the loveliness of earth awakes
To bless and do thee homage. Softly glide
The clouds yet glowing with the crimson light
Of the departed sun, to gird their queen .
With a fair circle of unfallen snow,
Yet brightened with the innocence of heaven !
Within that circle, deeper than the blue,
The tearless blue of an archangel's eye,
Glistens the eternal sanctitude of rest —
Out comes one single solitary star,
One moment shining — and then melts away
In thy o'erpowering radiance, while the heavens
All agitated into waves of light
Are like the ocean during breathless nights,
Astir, yet in the swell profoundly calm,
A type of endless, universal rest !

Nor is the earth beneath thee, Queen of Light !
Less lovely than the heavens. Thy smile creates
A dream-like pleasure through the works of God,
And all his blest creation seems more blest
When looking up to thee, and worshipping
Thy shining face with faintly-murmuring songs,
Odours as gentle as the mournful light,
And forms by Melancholy's softest touch
Moulded to beauty, in their depth of rest,
Seeming immortal and unchangeable,
Or ever varying like the breathing mist,
In fluctuations of profoundest peace,
Bordering on mirth — and now in awful trance
Like a dead countenance looking up to heaven,
By heaven rejected.

Lo ! thy favourite lake
Hath thrown the mist-veil from her purest breast,
And there thy spirit in a stream of light
Descends, as it would pierce down to the fields,
The woods, and groves, that lie in silentness
Beneath their lucid atmosphere of waves !
The lake is vanished — an abyss of light
Hath swallowed up her waves — and hast thou changed
Thy habitation in the heavens, O Moon !
For a wild dwelling in the glitterance
Of earth-born waters ? There thy face appears
Smiling as in thy native element !
I look to heaven, and there thou art likewise —
An apparition ! which is the true Moon
I know not — nor can tell — what matters it ?
Ye both are beautiful — therefore both, hail,
Now and for ever — first, thou watery Moon,
And then, thou Moon aerial ! haply one,
But, whether one or two, still beautiful,
Too beautiful by far not to be viewed,
Waning or full, without a gush of tears !
Where art thou gone ? all of a sudden gone ?
Why hast thou left thy pensive worshipper
Sitting in the darkness on the mossy stump
Of an old oak-tree ? — Hark ! the owl ! the owl !
He is a living clock that tells the hour
To visionary men who walk by nights
Composing poesy ! — And see yon star
Twinkling upon the hill-side ! 'Tis the window
Of my sweet cottage, — haply even now
My Mary stirs the fire, while near the hearth
My little babes are playing. — Fare thee well,
Departed Moon, and peace for ever smile
Beside thee in thy interlunar cave !