The long, gray moss that softly swings
    In solemn grandeur from the trees,
    Like mournful funeral draperies,—
A brown-winged bird that never sings.

A shallow, stagnant, inland sea,
    Where rank swamp grasses wave, and where
    A deadliness lurks in the air,—
A sere leaf falling silently.

The death-like calm on every...