Page:Poems Denver.djvu/108

Bears it the dead or dying?
 Is crime upon the tide?—
That hearse-like canopy might well
 Some direful secret hide.

Before yon lofty palace
 'Tis floating now at rest;
Bear the calm waters fearful things
 Upon their tranquil breast?
For lo! it takes its station
 In the column's shadowy space;
Holds it such sympathy with gloom,
 To seek no brighter place?

Yet hark! those strains of music,
 So thrilling—so divine!
Come they from where yon sparkling waves,
 In fitful radiance shine?
Or gives yon dark gondola
 Such magic to the ear?
How fall and rich and passionate,
 'Tis swelling upwards there!

Is it a lover breathing
 Words by devotion made,
K"o other ear but love's may hear
 The midnight serenade?
For this he seeks the shadow,
 For this he skims the wave,
And the secret mission in his heart,
 Is hid as in a grave.