The Valley Of Unrest

Once it smiled a silent dell

      Where the people did not dwell;

      They had gone unto the wars,

      Trusting to the mild-eyed stars,

      Nightly, from their azure towers,

      To keep watch above the flowers,

      In the midst of which all day

      The red sunlight lazily lay.

      Now each visitor shall confess

      The sad valley's restlessness.

      Nothing there is motionless-

      Nothing save the airs that brood

      Over the magic solitude.

      Ah, by no wind are stirred those trees

      That palpitate like the chill seas

      Around the misty Hebrides!

      Ah, by no wind those clouds are driven

      That rustle through the unquiet Heaven

      Uneasily, from morn till even,

      Over the violets there that lie

      In myriad types of the human eye-

      Over the lilies there that wave

      And weep above a nameless grave!

      They wave:- from out their fragrant tops

      Eternal dews come down in drops.

      They weep:- from off their delicate stems

      Perennial tears descend in gems.