dots-menu
×

Home  »  The Book of the Sonnet  »  James Dixon (1814–1873)

Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867.

IV. Moonlight in June

James Dixon (1814–1873)

THOU hast a gentle ministry, O Moon!

Riding in solemn silence through the sky,

And gazing from thy trackless path on high

Upon the beauty of the leafy June:

On such a lovely night, I ween, as this,

ENDYMION felt thy pale lip’s dewy kiss;

For far around on every plain and hill,

In the soft gleaming of thy gleaming ray,

Flower, tree, and forest, breathless now and still,

Rest from the burning brightness of the day;

Silence is over all. Yon murmuring rill

Alone leaps gladly on its tireless way:

In thy soft rays how beautiful is Night!

Like man’s cloud-covered path, by woman’s love made bright!