Page:Poems of Sentiment and Imagination.djvu/252

248 THE SETTING SUN.

sun sank down, a crimson ball,
 * In the sad, waveless sea of night;

A sullen gloom was over all,
 * Streaked with that strange and fiery light.

The tide of twilight slowly rose,
 * Tinged with the same unhappy glare,

And all the stars' sweet silver glows
 * Were lost in the thick, vaporous air.

A moment, ere in sadness down
 * The sun sank red and silently,

His forehead with its fiery crown
 * Shone wild and lurid o’er the sea.

So in the black sea of despair,
 * Sullen and fiery sank my heart,

And hot and glowing from the air
 * Of hope and beauty did depart.

Sullen and hot my heart sank low,
 * And its red, wild, and sickly glare

Glowed as a maniac's eyes will glow
 * From out black brows and hanging hair.

As one by one the sun's red gleams
 * Died out upon the surging sea,

So passion's once delightful dreams
 * Within my breast died sullenly.

I watched the long and hopeless night—
 * The storm furled up its pinions black—

The sun rose sweet, and fresh, and bright—
 * The tide of twilight murmured back!