Classic Poem

All hail! thou dark-browed and majestic Queen!
I watch thy coming with awe-bated breath;
Thy beauty is a terror! and thy mien
Is as the mien of death!

And yet I love thee, Midnight, with such love
As steeps my spirit in a dread delight!
A trembling pleasure thrills me as you move,
Dark-splendid in my sight!

I worship, whilst I wonder at the glow
Which shines within thy deep and awful eyes:
I joy to see thy star-gemmed tresses flow
Across the dusky skies!

I fain would clasp thee to my yearning breast,
Yet fear thy bosom's cold and clammy touch;
With one wild kiss I'd ease my heart's unrest,
But dread thy lips too much!

A vague strange passion stirs my inmost soul —
My whole frame tingles when I feel thee near,
And o'er my heart's mysterious surgings roll
Tremors of joy and fear!

I marvel, is such beauty, lone and rich,
Devoid of being and the spirit's gleam?
Or knows it not some truer life, of which
Our gross minds may not dream?

But never falls the answer; and perforce
I stand and watch and wonder from afar,
To see thee sweep on thy majestic course
To meet the morning star!