Classic Poem

I.

A MOUNTAIN shadow lieth on
Its mirror dark and massy;
The red late sun-ray streams across
O'er solemn wood and quiet moss,
O'er sward and hillock grassy.

II.

It tinges with a crimson light
The water sleeping under;
That calm clear water seldom wakes —
Calm when the forest pine-tree quakes —
Calm 'mid the very thunder.

III.

A ruin on its islet stands,
The walls with ivy pendent;
Its grey stones crumbling underneath
Peer through the arbitrary wreath
Of that untrain'd ascendant.

IV.

But glancing from the record rude
Of the remoter ages,
Behold the image of a stag
Timorous of the water flag
Its eager thirst assuages!

V.

The stately antlers branching free
Above its forehead tragic —
The form of animated grace
Are kindred to the quiet place,
A portion of its magic!

VI.

And there the wild duck, like a skiff,
Shoots from the reeds horrescent;
Its yellow paddles in their wake
Leave on the solitary lake
The traces of a crescent.

VII.

The peerly water-heron, too,
Where the faint sun-ray trembles,
Drooping its ever graceful head
Above the floating lily-bed,
A poet-bird resembles.

VIII.

And yonder, on the distant marge,
Behold an angler eager,
With taper wand and arm of skill
Under the shadow of a hill —
A solitary figure.

IX.

But falling from the quiet air
The mist and shades together,
Glideth away the sad sweet show,
The mountain and the lake below —
The forest and the heather!

X.

And night with dewy forehead bent
Holdeth her vigil solemn,
Till the red architect of morn
Upon a cloud-car slowly borne
Erects his amber column.