Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
England: Vols. I–IV. 1876–79. | | | | Southampton | | Southampton Castle | | William Lisle Bowles (1762–1850) |
| | | THE MOONLIGHT is without, and I could lose | |
| An hour to gaze, though taste and splendor here, | |
| As in a lustrous fairy palace, reign! | |
| Regardless of the lights that blaze within, | |
| I look upon the wide and silent sea | 5 |
That in the shadowy moonbeam sleeps.
How still, | |
| Nor heard to murmur or to move, it lies; | |
| Shining in Fancy’s eye, like the soft gleam, | |
The eve of pleasant yesterdays!
The clouds | |
| Have all sunk westward, and the host of stars | 10 |
| Seem in their watches set as gazing on; | |
| While night’s fair empress, sole and beautiful, | |
| Holds her illustrious course through the mid heavens | |
| Supreme, the spectacle, for such she looks, | |
Of gazing worlds!
How different is the scene | 15 |
| That lies beneath this archéd window’s height! | |
| The town that murmured through the busy day | |
| Is hushed; the roofs one solemn breadth of shade | |
| Veils; but the towers, and taper spires above, | |
| The pinnets and the gray embattled walls, | 20 |
| And masts that throng around the southern pier | |
| Shine all distinct in light; and mark, remote | |
| O’er yonder elms, St. Mary’s modest fane. * * * * * | | | | |
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