Classic Poem

When starry legions gleam on
The dusk of the heavens above,
And drops of silver stream on
Each murmuring brook and grove,
Why is it the fir-trees shiver,
What sets our hearts all a-quiver?
What secret disturbs us ever
When whispers of twilight rove?

When through the leafy branches
That trellis the forest glade
A pale beam falls and blanches
The spray of the bright cascade,
What wakens each eerie feeling
Our bosoms have been concealing,
Forgotten beauty revealing
Till tears can no more be stayed?

Know, when on paths deserted
And lonely thy footsteps roam,
The souls of the departed,
Of all that loved thee, come.
From danger they seek to save thee,
And of the soft beams that lave thee
A shimmering net they weave thee
And draw thee unto their home.