C 644 ] [Dec. 



SPIRITS. 



A FLOCK of wingless birds ! 

 That float but do not fly 

 On the dewy air of a summer night. 

 Beneath a star-lit sky. 



Phantoms of earthly forms ! 

 On their path the moonlight gleams. 

 When fear cometh over a mortal's heart. 

 And he lives in the land of dreams. 



They wave before his eyes. 

 Like tall dark forest-trees. 

 Keeping time with their long green boughs 

 To the song of the midnight-breeze. 



They are dancing now on the land — 

 They are passing to and fro ; 

 And no man knoweth whence they come. 

 Or whither they will go. 



But ever as on they move 

 With their dim and fleshless frames, 

 A low voice breaks on the mortal's ear. 

 And it whispereth o'er their names. 



Look — look — look 

 At the shadowy face of thy mother. 

 As she passeth by with thy sister's shade. 

 And the form of thy parted brother ! 



Look — look — look 

 On thy lover's hollow cheek ! 

 And see how the bright eye sparkleth now. 

 When the blushes may not speak ! 



A shudder ! — a gaze ! — a bound ! — 

 He is after his earthly ties ; 

 But they only flitted there — like clouds — 

 They have passed away like sighs. 



A light gleams over his brow — 

 A wild and mystic light ; 

 And the moon has gone to her resting-place. 

 And the Spirits have taken flight. 



