.

And ere I answered, passing out of sight,

       On his celestial embassy he sped.

      'T was at thy door, O friend! and not at mine,

       The angel with the amaranthine wreath,

       Pausing, descended, and with voice divine,

       Whispered a word that had a sound like Death.

      Then fell upon the house a sudden gloom,

       A shadow on those features fair and thin;

       And softly, from that hushed and darkened room,

       Two angels issued, where but one went in.

      All is of God! If he but wave his hand,

       The mists collect, the rain falls thick and loud,

       Till, with a smile of light on sea and land,

       Lo! he looks back from the departing cloud.

      Angels of Life and Death alike are his;

       Without his leave they pass no threshold o'er;

       Who, then, would wish or dare, believing this,

       Against his messengers to shut the door?

      Daylight and Moonlight

       Table of Contents

      In broad daylight, and at noon,

       Yesterday I saw the moon

       Sailing high, but faint and white,

       As a school-boy's paper kite.

       In broad daylight, yesterday,

       I read a Poet's mystic lay;

       And it seemed to me at most

       As a phantom, or a ghost.

       But at length the feverish day

       Like a passion died away,

       And the night, serene and still,

       Fell on village, vale, and hill.

       Then the moon, in all her pride,

       Like a spirit glorified,

       Filled and overflowed the night

       With revelations of her light.

       And the Poet's song again

       Passed like music through my brain.

       Night interpreted to me

       All its grace and mystery.