midnight
'T is midnight ! Round the lamp which o'er My chamber sheds its lonely beam , Is wisely spread the varied lore Which feeds in youth our feverish dream The dream -- the thirst -- the wild desire , Delirious yet divine-to know ; Around to roam -- above aspire And drink the breath of Heaven below ! From Ocean-Earth-the Stars-the Sky To lift mysterious Nature 's pall ; And bare before the kindling eye In MAN the darkest mist of all -- Alas ! what boots the midnight oil ? The madness of the struggling mind ? Oh , vague the hope , and vain the toil , Which only leave us doubly blind ! What learn we from the Past ?