Wreathed in silence, laid down in shades
Swathed in regrets, deluded astray
Forgotten in half-light, drawn in despair
Soothed in slumber so dreadful and fair
Rending and searing and twisting my dreams
Alone in the gloom with the nightmares unseen
The night has a thousand eyes,
And the day but one;
Yet the light of the bright world dies
With the dying sun
The mind has a thousand eyes,
And the heart but one:
Yet the light of a whole life dies
When love is done
Worthless the pledges, all vows but lies
Fateful her kisses, where a serpent hides
First beckoned to step from the twilight to glare
Then left in the dark for the demons to share
Only the stars see, only the moon hears...
And quietly the water-lilies sigh
Like the last breath of a weary soul
And the weed sway in the dreary waters
Like a girl's dark hair they wave about
And the black stones under my bare feet
Cold and smooth like her milk-white palm
And the silence which falls upon this shore
Resounds now louder than oncoming storm
For all is gone
- Insomnium / Francis William Bourdillon
