Faint and far, faint and far,
Surging up soft between sun and star,
Strains of revelry smote his ear,
Musical murmurs from lyre and lute,
Rising in choruses grand and clear,
Sinking in cadences almost mute,
Vexing the ear of him who sate
Wearied beside the Shining Gate.
Sad and low,
Flowed in an undertone of woe.
Wailing among the moons it came,
Sobbing in echoes against the stars,
Smothered behind some comet's flame,
Lost in the wind of the warlike Mars,
Mingling, ever and anon,
With the music's swell a sigh or moan.
"As in a glass
Let the earth once before me pass,"
The Old Year said; and space untold
Vanished 'till nothing came between,
Folded away, crystal and gold,
Nor azure air did intervene—
"As in a glass" he saw the earth
Decking a bier, and waiting a birth.
90
