BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
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- I stood on the bridge at midnight,
- As the clocks were striking the hour,
- And the moon rose o’er the city,
- Behind the dark church-tower.
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- I saw her bright reflection
- In the waters under me,
- Like a golden goblet falling
- And sinking into the sea.
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- And far in the hazy distance
- Of that lovely night in June,
- The blaze of the flaming furnace
- Gleamed redder than the moon.
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- Among the long, black rafters
- The wavering shadows lay,
- And the current that came from the ocean
- Seemed to lift and bear them away;
-
- As, sweeping and eddying through them,
- Rose the belated tide,
- And, streaming into the moonlight,
- The seaweed floated wide.
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- And like those waters rushing
- Among the wooden piers,
- A flood of thoughts came o’er me
- That filled my eyes with tears.
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- How often, O, how often,
- In the days that had gone by,
- I had stood on that bridge at midnight
- And gazed on that wave and sky!
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- How often, O, how often,
- I had wished that the ebbing tide
- Would bear me away on its bosom
- O’er the ocean wild and wide!
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- For my heart was hot and restless,
- And my life was full of care,
- And the burden laid upon me
- Seemed greater than I could bear.
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- But now it has fallen from me,
- It is buried in the sea;
- And only the sorrow of others
- Throws its shadow over me.
-
- Yet whenever I cross the river
- On its bridge with wooden piers,
- Like the odor of brine from the ocean
- Comes the thought of other years.
-
- And I think how many thousands
- Of care-encumbered men,
- Each bearing his burden of sorrow,
- Have crossed the bridge since then.
-
- I see the long procession
- Still passing to and fro,
- The young heart hot and restless,
- And the old subdued and slow!
-
- And forever and forever,
- As long as the river flows,
- As long as the heart has passions,
- As long as life has woes;
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- The moon and its broken reflection
- And its shadows shall appear,
- As the symbol of love in heaven,
- And its wavering image here.