THE VALLEY OF UNREST
Once it smiled a silent dell
Where the people did not dwell;
In the midst of which all day
The red sun-light lazily lay.
They had gone unto the wars,
Trusting to the mild-eyed stars,
Nightly, from their azure towers, —-
To keep watch above the flowers,
The sad valley's restlessness.
Nothing there is motionless --
Nothing saves the airs that brood
Over magic solitude.
Ah, by no wind are stirred those trees
That palpitate like the chill seas
Ah, by no wind those clouds are driven
That rustle through the unquiet Heaven
Uneasily, from morn till even,
Around the misty Hebrides!
Over the violets there that lie
Over the violets there that lie
In myriad types of human eye
In myriad types of human eye
The sad valley's restlessness.
Nothing there is motionless --
Nothing saves the airs that brood
Over magic solitude.
Over the lilies there that wave
And weep above a nameless grave!
They wave: -- from out their fragrant tops
Eternal dews come down in drops.
They weep: -- from off their delicate stems
Perennial tears descend in gems.
The sad valley's restlessness.
Nothing there is motionless --
Nothing saves the airs that brood
Over magic solitude