Classic Poem

I.

Is night fairest among mountains
And by the rushy lea,
Or cradled on the fountains
Of the unpolluted sea?

II.

Does moonlight come most brightly
Unto the white-faced steep,
Or when it wanders lightly
In sweet paths o'er the deep?

III.

Are stars most pure when making
Jewels for mountain crest,
Or with their shadows shaking
In ocean's pearly breast?

IV.

Is darkness grander covering
A mountain's hollow dells,
Than when it droopeth hovering
Upon the broad sea-swells?

V.

Be it mountain, be it ocean,
When night comes on the earth,
If a river's quiet motion
Be near me with its mirth.

VI.

Can any toil be sweeter
Than for me to lie and dream,
And have my time and metre
Made for me by a stream?

VII.

Then all night's gentle seemings
Into my sleep I take,
And a long night's pleasant dreamings
Are poems when I wake.