Oh, thou surpassing beauty! that dost live <br />Shrined in yon silent stream of glorious light! <br />Spirit of harmony! that through the vast <br />And cloud-embroidered canopy, art spreading <br />Thy wings, that o’er our shadowy earth hang brooding; <br />Like a pale silver cloud between the moon <br />And the world’s darker orb —beautiful, hail! <br />Hail to thee! from her midnight throne of ether, <br />Night looks upon the slumbering universe. <br />No ruffling breeze stirs the wood’s silver crest, <br />No rocking breath shakes the dew-spangled flower, <br />No rippling wind roughens the sleepy wave, <br />No slightest sound floats on the solemn air; <br />All, all are silent, all are dreaming, all, <br />Save yon eternal eyes, that now shine forth <br />Twinkling the slumberer’s destinies. The moon <br />Sails on the horizon’s verge, a moving glory. <br />Pure and unrivalled; for no paler orb <br />Approaches, to invade the sea of light <br />That spreads around her; save yon piercing star, <br />That glitters on her robe of fleecy clouds, <br />Like a bright gem, fall’n from her radiant brow.<br /><br />Frances Anne Kemble<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/lines-written-at-night/
