Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Daylight and Moonlight

In broad daylight, and at noon,
Yesterday I saw the moon
Sailing high, but faint and white,
As a school-boy's paper kite. 

In broad daylight, yesterday,
I read a Poet's mystic lay;
And it seemed to me at most
As a phantom, or a ghost. 

But at length the feverish day
Like a passion died away,
And the night, serene and still,
Fell on village, vale, and hill. 

Then the moon, in all her pride,
Like a spirit glorified,
Filled and overflowed the night
With revelations of her light. 

And the Poet's song again
Passed like music through my brain;
Night interpreted to me
All its grace and mystery.