Songs and Sonnets (Coleman)/On Such a Night as This

by Helena Jane Coleman

ON SUCH A NIGHT AS THIS.

 

On such a night as this, six years ago,
I dreamed beneath the moon of alien skies,
And saw the Southern Cross in splendor rise
O'er groves where orange-scented breezes blow;
Pale, opalescent waves washed to and fro
On silver shores with soundless melodies,
Among the jasmine, vagrant fire-flies
Pierced the wan night with intermittent glow.

Upon me still the saft enchantment lies,
And now, as then, I feel the ebb and flow
Of that elusive rapture and surprise
Which only haunting beauty can bestow—
And now, as then, my baffled spirit tries
To rend the imponderable veil and know.