| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (18331908). A Victorian Anthology, 18371895. 1895. |
| |
| A Sicilian Night |
| | | Edward Cracroft Lefroy (b. 1855) |
| |
| |
| COME, stand we here within this cactus-brake, | |
| And let the leafy tangle cloak us round: | |
| It is the spot whereof the Seer spake | |
| To nymph and faun a nightly trysting-ground. | |
| How still the scene! No zephyr stirs to shake | 5 |
| The listening air. The trees are slumberbound | |
| In soft repose. There s not a bird awake | |
| To witch the silence with a silver sound. | |
| Now haply shall the vision trance our eyes, | |
| By heedless mortals all too rarely scanned, | 10 |
| Of mystic maidens in immortal guise, | |
| Who mingle shadowy hand with shadowy hand, | |
| And, moving oer the lilies circle-wise, | |
| Beat out with naked feet a saraband. | |
| |
|
|
|