The Valley Of Unrest

1_Once_ it smiled a silent dell

2Where the people did not dwell;

3They had gone unto the wars,

4Trusting to the mild-eyed stars,

5Nightly, from their azure towers,

6To keep watch above the flowers,

7In the midst of which all day

8The red sun-light lazily lay,

9_Now_ each visitor shall confess

10The sad valley's restlessness.

11Nothing there is motionless —

12Nothing save the airs that brood

13Over the magic solitude.

14Ah, by no wind are stirred those trees

15That palpitate like the chill seas

16Around the misty Hebrides!

17Ah, by no wind those clouds are driven

18That rustle through the unquiet Heaven

19Unceasingly, from morn till even,

20Over the violets there that lie

21In myriad types of the human eye —

22Over the lilies that wave

23And weep above a nameless grave!

24They wave: — from out their fragrant tops

25Eternal dews come down in drops.

26They weep: — from off their delicate stems

27Perennial tears descend in gems.