Whispers Of Heavenly Death

   WHISPERS of heavenly death, murmur'd I hear;
   Labial gossip of night--sibilant chorals;
   Footsteps gently ascending--mystical breezes, wafted soft and low;
   Ripples of unseen rivers--tides of a current, flowing, forever
         flowing;
   (Or is it the plashing of tears? the measureless waters of human
         tears?)

   I see, just see, skyward, great cloud-masses;
   Mournfully, slowly they roll, silently swelling and mixing;
   With, at times, a half-dimm'd, sadden'd, far-off star,
   Appearing and disappearing.

   (Some parturition, rather--some solemn, immortal birth:            10
   On the frontiers, to eyes impenetrable,
   Some Soul is passing over.)