The golden sun all mellow was falling
Adown the far aisles of the flaming west,
Bathing earth and sea in fading glory
As it sank majestically to rest.
Murmuringly the summer winds were breathing
A song of love to the birds and flowers,
Wooing low the streams and distant woodlands,
And toying with gems in fairest bowers.
Low were the tones, mysterious and soothing,
That came from the depths of the throbbing sea,
Whisp’ring the soul of the great Eternal,
Far, far beyond, where bright spirits are free.

Gently the twilight came stealing around me,
Mantling earth and sea in dreamy array;
Palely the night orbs o’er me were twinkling,
Silv’ring the waters away and away.
Serenely the queen of night in her beauty
Looked on the sea and the isles afar,
Pointing her rays o’er the quivering foliage
To the far gates of day just left ajar.
Sweet were my dreamings alone in the gloaming
On that summer’s eve of the long ago,
Loving and trusting in meek adoration,
Quaffing from nature’s mysterious flow.

I paused by the murmuring sad voiced sea,
Dreaming of love, with the world at my feet;
So trusting is youth at the flush of its morn,
Soaring high on the wings of hope complete.
But darker and denser the shadows grew,
Deepening to gloom as night grew apace;
Ghostly clouds hid the stars, sky, earth, and sea,
And the crescent moon hid her beautiful face;
And the wandering night winds sighed and grieved,
And the waves sobbed low along the dim shore,
And a voice like a prayer, full of tears,
Wailed pitifully, “Nevermore!”

And I softly wept, yet I scarce knew why;
Vague doubts and fears touched my passionate soul,
Like the approaching tempest heard afar
When its muttering thunders onward roll.
I wandered away o’er the pitiless world,
Fighting life’s battle with might and with main,
And amid toil and tears through long sad years,
So weary of waiting, and all in vain.
All scathed and worn by the battle’s fierce flame,
With the day uncertain and incomplete;
Bright hope, love, and fame, and friendship so dear,
Lie a pitiful wreck at my tired feet.

I’ve come once again with the summer time,
At the evetime’s mystical afterglow,
To the lonely sea, ’neath a waning moon,
Where the waves still restlessly ebb and flow.
I look far out o’er the shadowed deep,
Seeking its dreamland isles afar;
But I scarce can see for the blinding tears
The beautiful sunset gates ajar.
But I seem to view up its golden aisles
A fairer world ’neath immortal skies,
All bright with bloom, and the friends I loved,
On the fadeless hills of paradise!