Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and Holland: Vols. XIV–XV. 1876–79. | | | | Spain: Cangas de Tineo | | Roderick at Cangas | | Robert Southey (1774–1843) |
| | | HOW calmly gliding through the dark-blue sky | |
| The midnight moon ascends! Her placid beams | |
| Through thinly scattered leaves and boughs grotesque | |
| Mottle with mazy shades the orchard slope; | |
| Here, o’er the chestnut’s fretted foliage gray | 5 |
| And massy, motionless they spread; here shine | |
| Upon the crags, deepening with blacker night | |
| Their chasms; and there the glittering argentry | |
| Ripples and glances on the confluent streams. | |
| A lovelier, purer light than that of day | 10 |
| Rests on the hills; and O, how awfully | |
| Into that deep and tranquil firmament | |
| The summits of Auseva rise serene! | |
| The watchman on the battlements partakes | |
| The stillness of the solemn hour; he feels | 15 |
| The silence of the earth, the endless sound | |
| Of flowing water soothes him, and the stars, | |
| Which in that brightest moonlight wellnigh quenched | |
| Scarce visible, as in the utmost depth | |
| Of yonder sapphire infinite, are seen, | 20 |
| Draw on with elevating influence | |
| Toward eternity the attempered mind. * * * * * | | | | |
|
|
