Warm waves of lavish moonlight <br />The Capitol enfold, <br />As if a richer noon light <br />Bathed its white walls with gold. <br />The great bronze Freedom shining, <br />Her crest in ether shrining, <br />Peers eastward as divining <br />The new day from the old. <br /> <br />Mark the mild planet pouring <br />Her splendor o'er the ground; <br />See the white obelisk soaring <br />To pierce the blue profound. <br />Beneath the still heavens beaming, <br />The lighted town lies gleaming, <br />In guarded slumber dreaming- <br />A world without a sound. <br /> <br />No laughter and no sobbing <br />From those dim roofs arise, <br />The myriad pulses throbbing <br />Are silent as the skies. <br />To us their peace is given, <br />The meed of spirits shriven; <br />I see the wide, pure heaven <br />Reflected in your eyes. <br /> <br />Ah love! a thousand æons <br />Shall range their trooping years; <br />The morning stars their pæans <br />Shall sing to countless ears. <br />These married States may sever, <br />Strong Time this dome may shiver, <br />But love shall last forever <br />And lovers' hopes and fears. <br /> <br />So let us send our greeting, <br />A wish for trust and bliss, <br />To future lovers meeting <br />On far-off nights like this, <br /> <br />Who, in these walls' undoing <br />Perforce of Time's rough wooing, <br />Amid the crumbling ruin <br />Shall meet, clasp hands, and kiss.<br /><br />John Hay<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/two-on-the-terrace/
