'Tis midnight: on the mountains brown[348]

The cold, round moon shines deeply down;

Blue roll the waters, blue the sky

Spreads like an ocean hung on high,

Bespangled with those isles of light,[or] [349]

So wildly, spiritually bright;

Who ever gazed upon them shining

And turned to earth without repining,

Nor wished for wings to flee away, 250

And mix with their eternal ray?

The waves on either shore lay there

Calm, clear, and azure as the air;

And scarce their foam the pebbles shook,

But murmured meekly as the brook.

The winds were pillowed on the waves;

The banners drooped along their staves,

And, as they fell around them furling,

Above them shone the crescent curling;

And that deep silence was unbroke, 260

Save where the watch his signal spoke,

Save where the steed neighed oft and shrill,

And echo answered from the hill,

And the wide hum of that wild host

Rustled like leaves from coast to coast,

As rose the Muezzin's voice in air

In midnight call to wonted prayer;

It rose, that chanted mournful strain,

Like some lone Spirit's o'er the plain:

'Twas musical, but sadly sweet, 270

Such as when winds and harp-strings meet,

And take a long unmeasured tone,

To mortal minstrelsy unknown.[os]

It seemed to those within the wall

A cry prophetic of their fall:

It struck even the besieger's ear

With something ominous and drear,[350]

An undefined and sudden thrill,

Which makes the heart a moment still,

Then beat with quicker pulse, ashamed 280

Of that strange sense its silence framed;

Such as a sudden passing-bell

Wakes, though but for a stranger's knell.[ot]