When midnight hours know not the peace of sleep
But drudge in trembling hope for envied fame,
In ghostly solitude before a flame
Of glimmering light, whose sombre rays out-peep
To view the city wrapped in silence deep,
Midst weird and darkly waving groves of palm,
When wizard clocks ring out and rend the calm
With strides of Time — their thrilling voices creep
Along the soul; my mind with labour worn,
Or grappling with a knot, delights to stand
In stillness, yearning forth to clasp with love
Thy beauteous form — and then, Spring opes above!
With blossom'd flow'r and chirping bird, the land
Smiles 'neath the sunlit hues the heavens adorn!