Why do you chide me that, when mortals yield <br />To slumber's charm, from sleep I ask no boon, <br />But from my casement watch the maimëd moon <br />Fainting behind her ineffectual shield: <br />Unto the chime by stately planets pealed <br />My song, my soul, my very self attune, <br />And nightly see, what none can see at noon, <br />The runic volume of the sky unsealed? <br />Haply the hour may come when grateful Night <br />Will these brief vigils endlessly repay, <br />And, on the dwindling of my earthly day, <br />Keep, like her stars, my heavenly fancies bright; <br />And glorious dreamings, shrouded now from sight, <br />Dawn out of darkness, not to sleep for aye.<br /><br />Alfred Austin<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/nocturnal-vigils/
