Once it smiled a silent dell
       Where the people did not dwell;
       They had gone unto the wars,
       Trusting to the mild-eyed stars,
       Nightly, from their azure towers,
       To keep watch above the flowers,
       In the midst of which all day
       The red sunlight lazily lay.
       Now each visitor shall confess
       The sad valley's restlessness.
       Nothing there is motionless-
       Nothing save the airs that brood
       Over the magic solitude.
       Ah, by no wind are stirred those trees
       That palpitate like the chill seas
       Around the misty Hebrides!
       Ah, by no wind those clouds are driven
       That rustle through the unquiet Heaven
       Uneasily, from morn till even,
       Over the violets there that lie
       In myriad types of the human eye-
       Over the lilies there that wave
       And weep above a nameless grave!
       They wave:- from out their fragrant tops
       Eternal dews come down in drops.
       They weep:- from off their delicate stems
       Perennial tears descend in gems.