In the deep of the night do my restless thoughts roam
____To the moon-flooded fields of the sky,
And they search for a pure and ethereal home,
____Where emotions and thoughts never die.
Where the mountains and valleys of silvery cloud
____Are eternally calling to me,
And the star-written secrets their vapors enshroud
____Stretch beyond, like an infinite sea!
Where the souls of the dead and the millions unborn,
____All around me, suffused in soft light,
Purest colors, like jewels, my pathway adorn,
____To my earth-weighted vision give sight.
And that light is a love that on earth we but guess
____In our purest and loveliest dreams,
And with some higher passion those spirits caress,
____Upward-drawing the soul with their beams.
For I know that among them are those I did love,
____When together we walked o’er the earth,
Like a voice on the wind from the regions above,
____Call me back to the place of my birth.
Daniel Leach is a poet living in Houston, Texas. He has spent much of his life fighting for the ideals of classical culture and and poetry. His poems have been published on the 21st century classical poetry website www.thechainedmuse.com. More of his writings can be found here
The imagery is beautiful! I love how you blend the whimsical with the spiritual.
This is beautiful, Daniel!
Well done!
Quite nice: lyricism and rhythm. Good job, Daniel.
Outstanding!
A sublime poem, hopefully the Angels can read it.
Bravo, Daniel. Your lyricism especially in the first two stanzas, is beautiful. Your poem recalls Eichendorff’s “Mondnacht” or the Heine poems Schumann used in “Dicterliebe.” This deserves to be set to music – if only there was a living Schumann…
Leo has a point. Many of the lines are breathless excursions into a kind of Disney Fantasy Land, which leave us thrilled but not really edified. But I will say this: Writing and reading anapestic meter is always exciting, and I did find myself caught up in that headlong rush.
I’d like to draw attention to a grammatical error, according to my lights, made in the biographical notes.
The verb “live” meaning “dwell” should appear in the present simple, and not in the present continuous. The use of the continuous in this case is non-standard English.
The biographical note should read:
“Daniel Leach is a poet who lives in Houston, Texas.” (I’d drop “is a poet who” as well. “Daniel Leach lives in Houston, Texas” suffices.)
Of course, McDonald’s “I’m loving it” is also non-standard.
I understand, though, that we all make mistakes.
Dear Daniel Leach,
My apologies for the late comment. This is an exquisite poem, the loftiness of which is tantalizing to the ear and soul. It has a child-like simplicity of spirit which I found profound and moving.
I am planning to read it at a Chinese Moon Festival celebration tonight. Such is its power that I believe a non-poet could immediately connect with and appreciate it.
I look forward to reading more of your poetry.
Hello – I stumbled on this beautiful poem by accident while searching for something with a similar title. I’m a published composer and songwriter who hasn’t done a musical setting of a poem for some time – but this one has definite musical possibilities. How would you feel about your poem becoming the basis of a song? I can’t promise it will happen, what with all the projects I have going on now, but I’d like to give it a try and see if lightning will strike.
Jonathan–sorry I haven’t replied-I only saw your comments today. Please contact me at I’d like to know more about your music. Dan Leach