midnight
Then , sink at once in silence drear , While , from the pillar 'd cloister 's cell , Dimly their gliding forms appear ! Lead where the pine-woods wave on high , Whose pathless sod is darkly seen , As the cold moon , with trembling eye , Darts her long beams the leaves between . Lead to the mountain 's dusky head , Where , far below , in shade profound , Wide forests , plains and hamlets spread , And sad the chimes of vesper sound , Or guide me , where the dashing oar Just breaks the stillness of the vale , As slow it tracks the winding shore , To meet the ocean 's distant sail : To pebbly banks , that Neptune laves , With measur 'd surges , loud and deep , Where the dark cliff bends o'er the waves , And wild the winds of autumn sweep . There pause at midnight 's spectred hour , And list the long-resounding gale ; And catch the fleeting moonlight 's pow ' r , O'er foaming seas and distant sail . The soft tranquillity of the scene below , where the evening breeze scarcely curled the water , or swelled the passing sail , that caught the last gleam of the sun , and where , now and then , a dipping oar was all that disturbed the trembling radiance , conspired with the tender melody of her lute to lull her mind into a state of gentle sadness , and she sung the mournful songs of past times , till the remembrances they awakened were too powerful for her heart , her tears fell upon the lute , over which she drooped , and her voice trembled , and was unable to proceed . Though the sun had now sunk behind the mountains , and even his reflected light was fading from their highest points , Emily did not leave the watch-tower , but continued to indulge her melancholy reverie , till a footstep , at a little distance , startled her , and , on looking through the grate , she observed a person walking below , whom , however , soon perceiving to be Mons . Bonnac , she returned to the quiet thoughtfulness his step had interrupted .