Lyric Poem · Death & Loss
In Memoriam 67: When on my bed the moonlight falls
When on my bed the moonlight falls,
I know that in thy place of rest
By that broad water of the west,
There comes a glory on the walls:
Thy marble bright in dark appears,
As slowly steals a silver flame
Along the letters of thy name,
And o'er the number of thy years.
The mystic glory swims away;
From off my bed the moonlight dies;
And closing eaves of wearied eyes
I sleep till dusk is dipt in gray:
And then I know the mist is drawn
A lucid veil from coast to coast,
And in the dark church like a ghost
Thy tablet glimmers to the dawn.
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“In Memoriam 67: When on my bed the moonlight falls” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson — quilloak.com/poems/in-memoriam-67-when-on-my-bed-the-moonlight-falls
Quick facts
- Poem
- In Memoriam 67: When on my bed the moonlight falls
- Poet
- Alfred, Lord Tennyson
- Length
- 16 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Death & Loss, Dreams & Sleep
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 16 lines · 2 stanzas of 4–12 lines
- Line length
- Mostly 8-syllable lines (tetrameter length).
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Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- Alfred, Lord Tennyson1809–1892
- Source record
- PoetryDBIn Memoriam 67: When on my bed the moonlight falls by alfred-lord-tennyson, PoetryDB transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- Not recorded in the imported source
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 4698dae1e491e953…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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