Page:Poems of Sentiment and Imagination.djvu/56

52 O it is better that our faith and love

A thousand times were trampled in the dust,

Than with such calm, cold, throbless hearts to move

Through the fair earth alone—no hope—no trust."

THE MIDNIGHT BANNER.

upon a night of sorrow,

Sat I waiting for the morrow,

With my hand upon my forehead,

And a grief upon my heart;

One I loved had rashly spoken

Words by which our hearts are broken—

Fatal words, of bitter meaning,

Such as force our souls apart;

And I sat in tearless sorrow

Till the midnight should depart.

Then, to cool the fever burning

Like a flame my forehead, turning

To the closely-curtained window,

I had drawn the folds aside;

When I saw, all bathed in moonlight,

Floating in the face of midnight,

Like a robed and winged spirit,

A dark banner, long and wide,

Streaming out upon the night-wind

In its lone and solemn pride.

With a motion slow and even,

Up against the starry heaven,

Floated that mysterious banner;

Like a proud and mournful soul,