10. MERLIN'S NIGHT SONG.
Pale sickle of the moon
Above the silent slope,
Advancing, and above the forest's border
Gently aquiver like a smile of love,
All hail! Today in clouds
Thy sweet face beckoned me in two-fold guise:
Welcome to me; for in their gloomy veil
Thou gleamest, as behind a massive curtain
Lamplight before an altar.
Before God's face through ages
Thou dost betake thee calmly.
Like to a cherub, doing faithful service.
Before earth's face through ages
Thou dost betake thee softly
Like to a guardian spirit on its pathway:
Before men's face through ages
Thou dost betake thee smiling
Like to a friend who merges all in concord.
Thou gleam'st on glad men's faces,
— Straightway the scent of roses best they seize,
Straightway their hearts they yield
To the blithe singing of the nightingale:
And they join lips to make
A fragrant, luscious chalice,
Wherein sleeps love, outlawed from paradise:
Thou gleam'st in some poor room,
Bedeck'st its walls with silver,
That in his sleep the poor man thinks on gladness.
Yea, for the dead thou carest,
When, swathed amid their shroud,
They are by all deserted,
Thou through the casement stealest,
