Page:Poetical Remains.pdf/277

Oh! in that moment, o'er her soul
What struggling passions claim control!
Fear, duty, love, in conflict high.
By turns have won th' ascendency;
And as, all tremulously bright,
Streams o'er her face the beam of night,
What thousand mix'd emotions play
O'er that fair face, and melt away:
Like forms whose quick succession gleams
O'er fancy's rainbow—tinted dreams;
Like the swift glancing lights that rise
Midst the wild cloud of stormy skies
    And traverse ocean o'er;
So in that full, impassioned eye
The changeful meanings rise and die,
    Just seen—and then no more!
But oh! too short that pause—again,
Shrills to her heart that witching strain,
"Awake! the midnight moon is bright,
Awake! the moments wing their flight,
    Haste! or they speed in vain!"