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| AWAY! the moor is dark beneath the moon, | |
| Rapid clouds have drank the last pale beam of even: | |
| Away! the gathering winds will call the darkness soon, | |
| And profoundest midnight shroud the serene lights of heaven. | |
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| Pause not! The time is past! Every voice cries, Away! | 5 |
| Tempt not with one last tear thy friend’s ungentle mood: | |
| Thy lover’s eye, so glazed and cold, dares not entreat thy stay: | |
| Duty and dereliction guide thee back to solitude. | |
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| Away, away! to thy sad and silent home; | |
| Pour bitter tears on its desolated hearth; | 10 |
| Watch the dim shades as like ghosts they go and come, | |
| And complicate strange webs of melancholy mirth. | |
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| The leaves of wasted autumn woods shall float around thine head: | |
| The blooms of dewy spring shall gleam beneath thy feet: | |
| But thy soul or this world must fade in the frost that binds the dead, | 15 |
| Ere midnight’s frown and morning’s smile, ere thou and peace may meet. | |
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| The cloud shadows of midnight possess their own repose, | |
| For the weary winds are silent, or the moon is in the deep: | |
| Some respite to its turbulence unresting ocean knows; | |
| Whatever moves, or toils, or grieves, hath its appointed sleep. | 20 |
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| Thou in the grave shalt rest—yet till the phantoms flee | |
| Which that house and heath and garden made dear to thee erewhile, | |
| Thy remembrance, and repentance, and deep musings are not free | |
| From the music of two voices and the light of one sweet smile. | |
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