He sinks into deep thought.

There are shadows that compel us,

There are voices that control;

More than substance these can tell us,

Speaking to the human soul.

In the moonlight, when it glistened

On my window, white as snow,

Once I woke and, leaning, listened

To a voice that sang below.

Full of gladness, full of yearning,

Strange with dreamy melody,

Like a bird whose heart is burning,

Wildly sweet it sang to me.

I arose; and by the starlight,

Pale beneath the mystic sky,

I have seen it full of far light,—

My dead joy go singing by.

In the darkness, when the glimmer

Of the storm was on the pane,

I have sat and heard a dimmer

Voice lamenting in the rain.

Full of parting and unspoken

Heartbreak, faint with agony,

Like a bird whose heart is broken,

Sadly low it cried to me.

I arose; and in the darkness

Wan beneath the haunted sky,

I have seen it, cold to starkness,—

My dead love go weeping by.