THE OCCULTATION OF ORION. I SAW, as in a dream sublime, The balance in the hand of Time, And day, with all its hours of light, Like the astrologers of eld, From earth unto the fixed stars. And through the dewy atmosphere, Not only could I see, but hear, Its wondrous and harmonious strings, Where, chanting through his beard of snows, And down the sunless realms of space Reverberates the thunder of his bass. Beneath the sky's triumphal arch His sword hung gleaming by his side, The golden radiance of its hair. The moon was pallid, but not faint, Yet beautiful as some fair saint, Serenely moving on her way As if she heard the voice of God, Upon the hot and burning stars, That were to prove her strength, and try Her holiness and her purity. Thus moving on, with silent pace, She reached the station of Orion. And suddenly from his outstretched arm Down fell the red skin of the lion Into the river at his feet. His mighty club no longer beat The forehead of the bull; but he Reeled as of yore beside the sea, He sought the blacksmith at his forge, And, like an instrument that flings The trumpet of the angel cast And on from sphere to sphere the words The reign of violence is o'er!" THE BRIDGE. I STOOD On the bridge at midnight, And the moon rose o'er the city, Behind the dark church-tower. I saw her bright reflection In the waters under me, Like a golden goblet falling And far in the hazy distance Among the long, black rafters The wavering shadows lay, And the current that came from the ocean Seemed to lift and bear them away; |