Two shadows fell, tremulous and frail...

Two shadows fell, tremulous and frail,

From the upland over the lake-surface pale,

While the shivering reeds shook at sunset,

As the swans sailed into a sea of jet.

The rippling waters, and the breeze,

And the shadows that fall from the trees,

Mingled and melted with the twain,

A song of whitewashed away by its black refrain.

Only words remained, palpitating and few,

Falling through the gloom and night's dew

Like jewelled fancies rising out of a dream

That live for a moment and die ere they gleam.