I STOOD on the bridge at midnight, | |
| As the clocks were striking the hour, | |
| And the moon rose o’er the city, | |
| Behind the dark church-tower. | |
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| I saw her bright reflection | 5 |
| In the waters under me, | |
| Like a golden goblet falling | |
| And sinking into the sea. | |
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| And far in the hazy distance | |
| Of that lovely night in June, | 10 |
| The blaze of the flaming furnace | |
| Gleamed redder than the moon. | |
| |
| Among the long, black rafters | |
| The wavering shadows lay, | |
| And the current that came from the ocean | 15 |
| Seemed to lift and bear them away; | |
| |
| As, sweeping and eddying through them, | |
| Rose the belated tide, | |
| And, streaming into the moonlight, | |
| The seaweed floated wide. | 20 |
| |
| And like those waters rushing | |
| Among the wooden piers, | |
| A flood of thoughts came o’er me | |
| That filled my eyes with tears. | |
| |
| How often, oh how often, | 25 |
| In the days that had gone by, | |
| I had stood on that bridge at midnight | |
| And gazed on that wave and sky! | |
| |
| How often, oh how often, | |
| I had wished that the ebbing tide | 30 |
| Would bear me away on its bosom | |
| O’er the ocean wild and wide! | |
| |
| For my heart was hot and restless, | |
| And my life was full of care, | |
| And the burden laid upon me | 35 |
| Seemed greater than I could bear. | |
| |
| But now it has fallen from me, | |
| It is buried in the sea; | |
| And only the sorrow of others | |
| Throws its shadow over me. | 40 |
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| Yet whenever I cross the river | |
| On its bridge with wooden piers, | |
| Like the odor of brine from the ocean | |
| Comes the thought of other years. | |
| |
| And I think how many thousands | 45 |
| Of care-encumbered men, | |
| Each bearing his burden of sorrow, | |
| Have crossed the bridge since then. | |
| |
| I see the long procession | |
| Still passing to and fro, | 50 |
| The young heart hot and restless, | |
| And the old subdued and slow! | |
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| And forever and forever, | |
| As long as the river flows, | |
| As long as the heart has passions, | 55 |
| As long as life has woes; | |
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| The moon and its broken reflection | |
| And its shadows shall appear, | |
| As the symbol of love in heaven, | |
| And its wavering image here. | 60 |
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