Is this round moon, I see arise
Up its old roadway in the skies,
Over my small horizon's rim,
Made by the pine wood's shadow dim,
The moon that lighted Paradise?
That shone with new created beam,
O'er Eden's bright quadruple stream,
Over the onyx pebbles going,
Or through Havilah's gold sand flowing,
Under Euphrates' palms to gleam?
The moon that shone on Eve's bright hair,
And cloaked with light her beauty fair,
That mirrored Eve and Paradise
Only in kingly Adam's eyes,
Beneath a brow unlined by care?
Thy white shafts barred the dens of shade
Where harmless lions crouching laid,
And thornless roses lifted up,
To thee and God, each incense cup
Through silver altars, shadow frayed.
O new old moon! O new moon old!
Hast thou no tale to mortal told
Through all these years? Nay, tell me now
How Eden vanished, where and how
Its sinless love and sands of gold.
Tell me what lies beyond the blue,
And what the whirling star-worlds do?
Page:All quiet along the Potomac and other poems.djvu/55
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
This page has been validated.
THE MOON THAT SHONE IN PARADISE.
49
5
D
