I sat by my window one night, <br />And watched how the stars grew high; <br />And the earth and skies were a splendid sight <br />To a sober and musing eye. <br /> <br />From heaven the silver moon shone down <br />With gentle and mellow ray, <br />And beneath the crowded roofs of the town <br />In broad light and shadow lay. <br /> <br />A glory was on the silent sea, <br />And mainland and island too, <br />Till a haze came over the lowland lea, <br />And shrouded that beautiful blue. <br /> <br />Bright in the moon the autumn wood <br />Its crimson scarf unrolled, <br />And the trees like a splendid army stood <br />In a panoply of gold! <br /> <br />I saw them waving their banners high, <br />As their crests to the night wind bowed, <br />And a distant sound on the air went by, <br />Like the whispering of a crowd. <br /> <br />Then I watched from my window how fast <br />The lights all around me fled, <br />As the wearied man to his slumber passed <br />And the sick one to his bed. <br /> <br />All faded save one, that burned <br />With distant and steady light; <br />But that, too, went out -- and I turned <br />Where my own lamp within shone bright! <br /> <br />Thus, thought I, our joys must die, <br />Yes -- the brightest from earth we win: <br />Till each turns away, with a sign, <br />To the lamp that burns brightly within.<br /><br />Henry Wadsworth Longfellow<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/musings-2/
