Classic Poem

The trees by the casement are moistened with dew
The first star has risen o'er that long ridge of heath
And it smiles from the verge of that sky's boundless blue
Through the green garden-bowers on the still walks beneath

She stood by the casement & looked at the sky
It was cloudless as summer & breezeless as June
She thought as a bird to its nest fluttered by
Of her home & she murmured a soft western tune

There was no one to hear it, the Hall in repose
Lay vacant & dark save where firelight was thrown
Where broad mirror gleamed & where high pillar rose
Round the lady still singing her vesper alone
Sweetly died both words & air
It was over & her face
Told by its soft shade of care
Thought had stolen to music's place
Canst thou tell by that dark eye
Lifted & that suffering brow
Fair yet clouded what thoughts lie
In that lady's bosom now
Thou may'st feel but ne'er can words
Tell their rise their aim their flow
Who the course of wandering birds
Through the trackless skies may know
Lo she smiles, in solitude
Twilight grief, she smiles again
She has hope, some flowers are strewed
O'er her path though drenched in rain
Through a dim uncertain track
Long her pilgrimage hath lain
Fleeting sunshine, shadows black
Transient pleasure, lingering pain
No keen grief, few floods of tears
Distant hope to call her on
Still each day that hope appears
Fainter promised, farther flown
Sad existence! O she feels
All its misery even now