Poems of Sentiment and Imagination/The Setting Sun
THE SETTING SUN.
The sun sank down, a crimson ball,
In the sad, waveless sea of night;
A sullen gloom was over all,
Streaked with that strange and fiery light.
The tide of twilight slowly rose,
Tinged with the same unhappy glare,
And all the stars' sweet silver glows
Were lost in the thick, vaporous air.
A moment, ere in sadness down
The sun sank red and silently,
His forehead with its fiery crown
Shone wild and lurid o’er the sea.
So in the black sea of despair,
Sullen and fiery sank my heart,
And hot and glowing from the air
Of hope and beauty did depart.
Sullen and hot my heart sank low,
And its red, wild, and sickly glare
Glowed as a maniac's eyes will glow
From out black brows and hanging hair.
As one by one the sun's red gleams
Died out upon the surging sea,
So passion's once delightful dreams
Within my breast died sullenly.
I watched the long and hopeless night—
The storm furled up its pinions black—
The sun rose sweet, and fresh, and bright—
The tide of twilight murmured back!
But from its sea of endless night
My mad heart never rose again;
Long looked I for one gleam of light,
But kept a desolate watch in vain.
Cold, dark, and senseless, still it lies
Within a black and waveless sea,
In splendor never more to rise,
And shine in love and melody.