Midnight
Wide o'er the world I waft the fresh ' ning wind , Low breathing through the woods and twilight vale , In whispers soft , that woo the pensive mind Of him , who loves my lonely steps to hail . His tender oaten reed I watch to hear , Stealing its sweetness o'er some plaining rill , Or soothing ocean 's wave , when storms are near , Or swelling in the breeze from distant hill ! I wake the fairy elves , who shun the light ; When , from their blossom 'd beds , they slily peep , And spy my pale star , leading on the night , -- Forth to their games and revelry they leap ; Send all the prison 'd sweets abroad in air , That with them slumber 'd in the flow ' ret 's cell ; Then to the shores and moonlight brooks repair , Till the high larks their matin-carol swell . The wood-nymphs hail my airs and temper 'd shade , With ditties soft and lightly sportive dance , On river margin of some bow ' ry glade , And strew their fresh buds as my steps advance : But , swift I pass , and distant regions trace , For moonbeams silver all the eastern cloud , And Day 's last crimson vestige fades apace ; Down the steep west I fly from Midnight 's shroud . The moon was now rising out of the sea . She watched its gradual progress , the extending line of radiance it threw upon the waters , the sparkling oars , the sail faintly silvered , and the wood-tops and the battlements of the watch-tower , at whose foot she was sitting , just tinted with the rays . Emily 's spirits were in harmony with this scene .