夜鶯頌
I cannot see what flowers are at my feet
Nor what soft incensehangs upon the boughs37
But in embalmed38 darkness guess each sweet39
Wherewith the seasonable month40 endows
The grass the thicket41 and the fruit-tree wild--
White hawthorn and the pastoral eglantine42;
Fast fading violets43 covered up in leaves;
And mid-May's eldest child44
The coming musk-rose full of dewy wine
The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves45.
Darkling46 I listen; and for many a time
I have been half in love with easeful Death
Called him soft names in many a mused rhyme47
To take into the air my quiet breath48;
Now more than ever seems it rich to die
To cease upon the midnight with no pain
While thou art pouring49 forth thy soul abroad
In such an ecstasy50!
Still wouldst thou sing and I have ears in vain --
To thy high requiem51 become a sod52.
Thou wast53 not born for death immortal Bird54!
No hungry generations55 treadthee down;
The voice I hear this passing night eas heard
In ancient days by emperor and clown56:
Perhaps57 the self-same58 song that found a path
Through the sad heart of Ruth59 when sick for home
She stood in tears amid the alien corn;
The same that oft-times60 hath61
Charm’d magic casement62 opening on the foam
Of perilous63 seas in faery lands64 forlorn65.
Forlorn66! the very word is like a bell
To toll67 me back from thee to my sole self68!
Adieu69! the fancy cannot cheat so well
As she is famed to do deceiving elf.
Adieu! adieu! thy plaintive anthem7fades
Past the near meadows over the still stream
Up the hill-side75; and now 'tis buried76 deep
In the next valley-glades:
Was is a vision or a waking dream?
Fled is that music -- Do I wake or sleep?
I cannot see what flowers are at my feet
Nor what soft incensehangs upon the boughs37
But in embalmed38 darkness guess each sweet39
Wherewith the seasonable month40 endows
The grass the thicket41 and the fruit-tree wild--
White hawthorn and the pastoral eglantine42;
Fast fading violets43 covered up in leaves;
And mid-May's eldest child44
The coming musk-rose full of dewy wine
The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves45.
Darkling46 I listen; and for many a time
I have been half in love with easeful Death
Called him soft names in many a mused rhyme47
To take into the air my quiet breath48;
Now more than ever seems it rich to die
To cease upon the midnight with no pain
While thou art pouring49 forth thy soul abroad
In such an ecstasy50!
Still wouldst thou sing and I have ears in vain --
To thy high requiem51 become a sod52.
Thou wast53 not born for death immortal Bird54!
No hungry generations55 treadthee down;
The voice I hear this passing night eas heard
In ancient days by emperor and clown56:
Perhaps57 the self-same58 song that found a path
Through the sad heart of Ruth59 when sick for home
She stood in tears amid the alien corn;
The same that oft-times60 hath61
Charm’d magic casement62 opening on the foam
Of perilous63 seas in faery lands64 forlorn65.
Forlorn66! the very word is like a bell
To toll67 me back from thee to my sole self68!
Adieu69! the fancy cannot cheat so well
As she is famed to do deceiving elf.
Adieu! adieu! thy plaintive anthem7fades
Past the near meadows over the still stream
Up the hill-side75; and now 'tis buried76 deep
In the next valley-glades:
Was is a vision or a waking dream?
Fled is that music -- Do I wake or sleep?
