Daylight And Moonlight

    In broad daylight, and at noon,
    Yesterday I saw the moon
    Sailing high, but faint and white,
    As a school-boy's paper kite.

    In broad daylight, yesterday,
    I read a Poet's mystic lay;
    And it seemed to me at most
    As a phantom, or a ghost.

    But at length the feverish day
    Like a passion died away,
    And the night, serene and still,
    Fell on village, vale, and hill.

    Then the moon, in all her pride,
    Like a spirit glorified,
    Filled and overflowed the night
    With revelations of her light.

    And the Poet's song again
    Passed like music through my brain;
    Night interpreted to me
    All its grace and mystery.