Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882). Complete Poetical Works. 1893.
Birds of PassageFlight the First. Daylight and Moonlight
I
Yesterday I saw the moon
Sailing high, but faint and white,
As a school-boy’s paper kite.
I read a Poet’s mystic lay;
And it seemed to me at most
As a phantom, or a ghost.
Like a passion died away,
And the night, serene and still,
Fell on village, vale, and hill.
Like a spirit glorified,
Filled and overflowed the night
With revelations of her light.
Passed like music through my brain;
Night interpreted to me
All its grace and mystery.