NIGHT

O NIGHT! Thou friend of Thought, of Song, of winged

O

Inspiration! So gentle is thy tread,

Thy hand so soft, thy look so deep, the sea

Is not so deep as thy mysterious gaze.

Revealest thou what worlds have thought in distant,

Unfathomable dream? Thou knowest wonders,

And tellest them in whispers to the dreamer.

Thou art alive with silence, gentle Night,

The silence of the Past and of the Future,

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Of things untold, but not forgotten, dreams

Unreal, yet full of burning truth, and clad

In image, that they startle not our heart,

Nor wake its nerveless beating till it sounds.

In silence, wondrous Night, thou teachest what

The noisy Day would never understand:

Thou makest us descend into the mine

Yet unexplorèd of our soul, that hoards

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