Canto LXV

When on my bed the moonlight falls,

      I know that in thy place of rest

      By that broad water of the west,

There comes a glory on the walls:

Thy marble bright in dark appears,

      As slowly steals a silver flame

      Along the letters of thy name,

And o'er the number of thy years.

The mystic glory swims away;

      From off my bed the moonlight dies;

      And closing eaves of wearied eyes

I sleep till dusk is dipt in gray:

And then I know the mist is drawn

      A lucid veil from coast to coast,

      And in the chancel like a ghost

Thy tablet glimmers to the dawn.