Classic Poem

The wind sings ‘Alleluia,’ and the sea
Shines in the moonlight like a silver sword;
The waves shout ‘Alleluia,’ full and free
With joyous sounds—‘We hail thy Mother, Lord.’

O night in May: thy air is full of love—
Of love and triumph for our Lady fair;
Behold, her crescent hangs the world above,
And all her stars adorn her mantle rare.

A bridal veil of moonbeams touches earth—
The bridal veil of her, the Spouse of God ;
The sparkling river sings a song of mirth,
And flower-faces smile upon the sod.

Nothing is silent: all God's creatures raise
Fugue after fugue of tender love and grace;
The pansies in the garden softly praise
Her spotless thoughts; the earth's a holy place.

Ah, hear the cherry-blossoms whisper sweet,
‘Queen of the World, how happy we this night’
Ah, hear the maple-buds in love repeat
The salutation of the lilies white.

O night in May, O lovely night in May—
A lily of the valley sounds her bells,
So soft, so soft, that (silent all the day)
Make music like the sighing of the shells.

No thing is silent in the joyous world:
The lilac sings, ‘There is no spot in thee’:
A honeysuckle-bud has just unfurled
Before its time, her servitor to be.

Peach-blossom in the moonlight, silver-pink,
Thou singest, too, in perfume delicate;
I hear a dying cadence softly sink—
A daisy duo to her delicate.

O wind, O waves, O moon, O lovely night:
I know the words of all your songs by heart—
O scented singers in the crescent's light,
Teach us a fugue of meekness for our part.