ON THE NIGHT BEFORE THE RUSSIAN EMANCIPATION.
It was midnight on the Finland,
And, o'er the wastes of snow,
From the crystal sky of Winter
The lamps of God hung low.
A sea of ice was the Neva,
In the white light of the stars,
And it locked its arms in silence
Round the city of the Tzars.
The palace was mantled in shadow,
And, dark in the starlit space,
The monolith rose before it
From its battle-trophied base.
And the cross that crowned the column
Seemed reaching to the stars,
O'er the white streets, wrapped in silence,
Round the palace of the Tzars.