midnight
The sea , the deep blue sea , too , has its bounds that it can not pass . Its tides may ebb and flow , its bounding waves make music on their winding shore , or heave in their giant strength , and dash their foam and spray before the raging tempest , but they are curbed by that Eternal fiat , which says , `` So far shalt thou go and no farther , '' or hushed by the same voice saying , `` Peace , be still ! '' Rivers run in their destined courses , and pay constant tribute to old ocean , and even the sparkling brook that bubbles over its pebbly bottom , dances not in vain , for the grass upon its margin assumes a deeper green and marks the threading of its silver current . The gentle dew that distils upon the tender herbage in the deep silence of midnight , of the mist that rises from the bosom of the earth , are not without design . The mountain rising in its magnificence , the gently sloping hill and verdant vale , are so arranged as to fill the mind of the beholder with satisfaction , while the eye gazes upon the perfect harmony that pervades great nature 's works . Every thing that is beautiful , every thing that is sublime , is depicted in the order and perfection of the natural world , where each has its appropriate sphere and fulfils its appropriate destiny . This is a theme upon which the most powerful mind may expand itself , stretching from thought to thought , and from object to object , without grasping half the amazing whole .