Literature/Alfred, Lord Tennyson/In Memoriam A.H.H.

In Memoriam A.H.H.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1849

Canto LXV

When on my bed the moonlight falls,I know that in thy place of restBy that broad water of the west,There comes a glory on the walls:

Thy marble bright in dark appears,As slowly steals a silver flameAlong the letters of thy name,And o’er the number of thy years.

The mystic glory swims away;From off my bed the moonlight dies;And closing eaves of wearied eyesI sleep till dusk is dipt in gray:

And then I know the mist is drawnA lucid veil from coast to coast,And in the chancel like a ghostThy tablet glimmers to the dawn.