Bride of the Night, clad in such fitting robes!
What is there in this silent, sombre mien
To win thee from the love of royal Day?
Waxing and waning with his darkness, queen
Fit for the palace Helios rules on high,
But smiling only when the silver moon
Ushers in Night and his attendant stars!
Such bloom as thine seems meet for tropic Noon,
Instead of Midnight's passionless repose.
What hast thou found in Nature's common soil
--Whence blooms the sunflower, ever yellow-rayed--
To make thee different from all others? spoil
Worthy the bee, but by his appetite
Unsullied--pure to be the Bride of Night.
