THIS was the summer whose gradual splendor
Burned the meridian while the deep sea
Whispering, murmuring, watched the surrender,
Cradled my union, my loved one, with thee.
Mute was the music and mystic the pæan
That skirted the magical days as they fled.
These were the nights when the starred empyrean
Bent o'er the passion it silently fed.
Turn, ancient Earth! as with slumbering motion
Thou steerest thy course through the spaces divine,
The dome of thy stars, and the caves of thine ocean
Re-echo forever the love that was mine.
