Poems by Felicia Dorothea Browne/Evening, on the Seashore

by Felicia Hemans

EVENING, ON THE SEA SHORE;

Sweet evening hour! thy gale is balm,
    And fragrant are thy pearly dews;
Thine is the mild and genial calm,
    Belov'd by zephyr and the muse.

With fading smile the rosy day,
    Now lingers in the radiant west;
The breezes o'er the water play,
    The summer waves are lull'd to rest.

I love to mark the glowing skies,
    Reflected in the glassy deep;
To watch the star of evening rise,
    When all the ocean seems to sleep.

But see! the twilight mantle gray,
    O'er all the fading view is spread;
The glowing skies are pass'd away,
    The bright and purple clouds are fled.

While memory loves unseen to mourn,
    Alone to shed the sacred tear;
Still to the muse thy blest return,
    Oh! pensive twilight, shall be dear.

Now let me pour the soothing lay,
    And hear the waves that murmuring glide;
And wander till the moonlight ray,
    Serenely trembles on the tide.

Come, gentle Fancy, rove with me,
    At this thy favourite shadowy hour;
Awake soft music, from the sea,
    And call the fairies by thy power.