And zone that clung around her gentle waist Young flowers were whispering in melody* To happy flowers that night, and tree to tree; Fountains were gushing music as they fell In many a star-lit grove, or moon-lit dell; Yet silence came upon material things, Fair flowers, bright waterfalls, and angel wings, And sound alone that from the spirit sprang Bore burden to the charm the maiden sang : ""Neath blue-bell or streamer, Or tufted wild spray, That keeps from the dreamer Fairies use flowers for their charactery.-Merry Wives of Windsor. + In Scripture is this passage,-" The sun shall not harm thee by day, nor the moon by night." It is, perhaps, not generally known, that the moon, in Egypt, has the effect of producing blindness to those who sleep with the face exposed to its rays, to which circumstance the passage evidently alludes. Bright beings! that ponder, On the stars which your wonder Till they glance through the shade, and Could angels be blest?)— Those kisses of true love That lull'd ye to rest! Up! shake from your wing The dew of the night— It would weigh down your flight; And true love caresses Oh, leave them apart! They are light on the tresses, But lead on the heart. I To keep watch with delight "Ligeia! wherever Thy image may be, Thy music from thee. But the strains still arise Which thy vigilance keep; The sound of the rain Which leaps down to the flower, And dances again In the rhythm of the shower; From the growing of grass Are the music of things, But are modell'd, alas ! Away, then, my dearest, Oh! hie thee away Beneath the moon-ray,— * I met with this idea in an old English tale, which I am now unable to obtain, and quote from memory:-" The verie essence and, as it were, springeheade and origine of all musiche is the verie pleasaunte sounde which the trees of the forest do make when they growe." That enjewel its breast, Have mingled their shade, Full many a maid; Some have left the cool glade, and On moorland and lea Go! breathe on their slumber, The musical number They slumber'd to hear: For what can awaken An angel so soon, Whose sleep hath been taken * The wild bee will not sleep in the shade if there be moonlight. The rhyme in this verse, as in one about sixty lines before, has an appearance of affectation. It is, however, imitated from Sir W. Scott, or rather from Claud Halcro, in whose mouth I admired its effect: "Oh, were there an island, Though ever so wild, Where woman might smile, and No man be beguiled," &c. |