AN AUTUMNAL MIDNIGHT.

I walk in silence and the starry night;

And travellers with me are leaves alone.

Still onward fluttering, by light breezes blown.

The moon is yet in heaven, but soon her light,

Shed through the silvery clouds and on the dark

Must disappear. No sound I hear save trees

Swayed darkly, like the rush of far-off seas

That climb with murmurs loud the rocky steep.

There wakes no crowing cock, nor watch-dog’s bark.

I look around, as in a placid dream

Existing amidst beauty, and I seem

Relieved from human weakness, and from sleep,

A happy spirit ’neath the boundless heaven,

To whom not Day alone but Night is given!