Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By Elizabeth ClementineKinney

272 Moonlight in Italy

THERE ’S not a breath the dewy leaves to stir;

There ’s not a cloud to spot the sapphire sky;

All Nature seems a silent worshipper:

While saintly Dian, with great, argent eye,

Looks down as lucid from the depths on high

As she to Earth were Heaven’s interpreter;

Each twinkling little star shrinks back, too shy

Its lesser glory to obtrude by her

Who fills the concave and the world with light;

And ah! the human spirit must unite

In such a harmony of silent lays,

Or be the only discord in this night,

Which seems to pause for vocal lips to raise

The sense of worship into uttered praise.