Endymion

The rising moon has hid the stars,

Her level rays like golden bars

Lie on the landscape green

With shadows brown between,

And silver-white the river gleams,

As if Diana, in her dreams,

Had dropp'd her silver bow

Upon the meadows low.

On such a tranquil night as this,

She woke Endymion with a kiss

When sleeping in the grove,

He dreamed not of her love.

Like Dian's kiss unask'd unsought,

Love gives itself, but is not bought,

Nor voice nor sound betrays

Its deep impassioned gaze.

It comes, the beautiful, the free;

The crown, of all humanity,

In silence, and alone,

To seek the elected one,

It lifts the boughs whose shadows deep

Are life's oblivion, the soul's sleep.

And kisses the closed eyes

Of him who slumbering lies.

Oh, weary hearts, oh, slumbering eyes,

Oh, drooping souls whose destinies

Are fraught with fear and pain,

Ye shall be loved again!

No one is so accursed by fate,

No one so utterly desolate

But some heart, though unknown,

Responds unto his own, responds

As though with unseen wings

An angel touched the quiv'ring strings

And whispers in its song

Where hast thou stayed so long?