noun / mel-uhn-kol-ee / melancholies / melancholia

affected with deep thoughtful sadness

BREATH o’ the grass,
Ripple of wandering wind,
Murmur of tremulous leaves:
A moonbeam moving white
Like a ghost across the plain:
A shadow on the road;
And high up, high,
From the cypress-bough
A long sweet melancholy note.
Silence.
And the topmost spray
Of the cypress-bough is still
As a wavelet in a pool;
The road lies duskily bare:
The plain is a misty gloom:
Still are the tremulous leaves;
Scarce a last ripple of wind,
Scarce a breath i’ the grass.
Hush! the tired wind sleeps:
Is it the wind’s breath, or
Breath o’ the grass?

William Sharp (Susurro)

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