The Night-Swans

'Tis silence on the enchanted lake,      And silence in the air serene,      Save for the beating of her heart,      The lovely-eyed Evangeline.      She sings across the waters clear      And dark with trees and stars between,      The notes her fairy godmother      Taught her, the child Evangeline.      As might the unrippled pool reply,      Faltering an answer far and sweet,      Three swans as white as mountain snow      Swim mantling to her feet.      And still upon the lake they stay,      Their eyes black stars in all their snow,      And softly, in the glassy pool,      Their feet beat darkly to and fro.      She rides upon her little boat,      Her swans swim through the starry sheen,      Rowing her into Fairyland -      The lovely-eyed Evangeline.      'Tis silence on the enchanted lake,      And silence in the air serene;      Voices shall call in vain again      On earth the child Evangeline.      'Evangeline! Evangeline!'      Upstairs, downstairs, all in vain.      Her room is dim; her flowers faded;      She answers not again.