Mother of light! how fairly dost thou go
Over those hoary crests, divinely led!—­
Art thou that huntress of the silver bow,
Fabled of old?  Or rather dost thou tread
Those cloudy summits thence to gaze below,
Like the wild Chamois from her Alpine snow,
Where hunter never climb’d,—­secure from dread? 
How many antique fancies have I read
Of that mild presence! and how many wrought! 
    Wondrous and bright,
    Upon the silver light,
Chasing fair figures with the artist, Thought!

II.

What art thou like?—­Sometimes I see thee ride
A far-bound galley on its perilous way,
Whilst breezy waves toss up their silvery spray;—­
    Sometimes behold thee glide,
Cluster’d by all thy family of stars,
Like a lone widow, through the welkin wide,
Whose pallid cheek the midnight sorrow mars;—­
Sometimes I watch thee on from steep to steep,
Timidly lighted by thy vestal torch,
Till in some Latmian cave I see thee creep,
To catch the young Endymion asleep,—­
Leaving thy splendor at the jagged porch!—­

III.

Oh, thou art beautiful, howe’er it be! 
Huntress, or Dian, or whatever named;
And he, the veriest Pagan, that first framed
A silver idol, and ne’er worshipp’d thee!—­
It is too late—­or thou should’st have my knee—­
Too late now for the old Ephesian vows,
And not divine the crescent on thy brows!—­
Yet, call thee nothing but the mere mild Moon,
    Behind those chestnut boughs,
Casting their dappled shadows at my feet;
I will be grateful for that simple boon,
In many a thoughtful verse and anthem sweet,
And bless thy dainty face when’er we meet.

IV.

In nights far gone,—­ay, far away and dead,—­
Before Care-fretted, with a lidless eye,—­
I was thy wooer on my little bed,
Letting the early hours of rest go by,
To see thee flood the heaven with milky light,
And feed thy snow-white swans, before I slept;
For thou wert then purveyor of my dreams,—­
Thou wert the fairies’ armourer, that kept
Their burnish’d helms, and crowns, and corslets bright,
    Their spears, and glittering mails;
And ever thou didst spill in winding streams
    Sparkles and midnight gleams,
For fishes to new gloss their ardent scales!—­

V.

Why sighs?—­why creeping tears?—­why clasped hands?—­
Is it to count the boy’s expended dow’r? 
That fairies since have broke their gifted wands? 
That young Delight, like any o’erblown flower,
Gave, one by one, its sweet leaves to the ground?—­
Why then, fair Moon, for all thou mark’st no hour,
Thou art a sadder dial to old Time
    Than ever I have found
On sunny garden-plot, or moss-grown tow’r,
Motto’d with stern and melancholy rhyme.