ENDYMION

She came upon me in the middle day, Bowed o'er the waters of a mountain mere; Where dimly mirrored in the ripple's play I saw some fair thing near.

I saw the waters lapping round her feet, The widening rings spread, follow out and die, I saw the mirror and the mirrored meet, And heard a voice hard by.

So I, Endymion, who lay bathing there, Half-hidden in the coolness of the lake, Looked up and swept away my long wild hair, And knew a goddess spake;

A form white limbed and peerless, far above The very fairest of imagined things, The perfect vision of a dream of love Stepped through the water-rings;

That breathed soft names and drew me to her arms, White arms and clinging in a long caress, And won me willing, by the magic charms Of perfect loveliness:

Till on my breast a throbbing bosom lies; The dim hills waver and the dark woods roll, For all the longing of two glorious eyes Takes hold upon my soul.

Then only when the sudden darkness fell Upon the silver of the mountain mere, And through the pine trees of the slanting dell, The moon rose cold and clear,

I seemed alone upon the dewy shore,— For she had left me as she came unwarned;— And fell from sighing into sleep, before The summer morning dawned.

What wonder now I find no maiden fair Who dwells between these mountains and the seas? And go unloving and unloved, or ere I turn to such as these.

What wonder if the light of those wide eyes Makes other eyes seem cold; for that loud laughter Lost love has nothing left but sighs For all the time hereafter.

Yet better so, far better, no regret Can touch my heart for that sweet memory's sake, But only sighing for the sun that set Behind the summer lake.

But yestermorn it was, the second night Comes softly stealing over yon blue steep; The world grows silent in the fading light, There is no joy but sleep.

— I cannot bear her fair face in the skies Beyond the drowsy waving of the trees,— A soft breeze kisses round my heavy eyes, A restful summer breeze.

What means this dreamless apathy of sleep? — A mist steals over the dim lake, the shore, Until my closing eyes forget to weep — Oh, let me wake no more!