Moon Mockery

I walked in Tara's Wood one summer night, And saw, amid the still, star-haunted skies, A slender moon in silver mist arise, And hover on the hill as if in fright. Burning, I seized her veil and held her tight: An instant all her glow was in my eyes; Then she was gone, swift as a white bird flies, And I went down the hill in opal light.

And soon I was aware, as down I came, That all was strange and new on every side; Strange people went about me to and fro, And when I spoke with trembling mine own name They turned away, but one man said: "He died In Tara Wood, a hundred years ago."