So Still, So Chill, So Fair

Maiden and Moon
by Julia Stockton Dinsmore

Once in a dream I saw the full moon fall
Like a dead leaf adown the dusky air,
Blown to the outer darkness otherwhere;
And stormy nights like this the dream recall,
When from the black clouds' silver-broidered pall
The white disk gleams, so still, so chill, so fair.
Dead! in her youth, perhaps, but wandering there,
A ghost that nightly haunts our living ball.
Pale sister moon, what broke thy virgin heart
And left thee wrecked and desolate in space?—
Love of some central sun too far above,
Too ardent, else? Silent and cold thou art,
Shrouded in mystery; but thy pure face
Is radiant with the lingering light of love.