The young Endymion sleeps Endymion's sleep; br The shepherd-boy whose tale was left half told! br The solemn grove uplifts its shield of gold br To the red rising moon, and loud and deep br The nightingale is singing from the steep; br It is midsummer, but the air is cold; br Can it be death? Alas, beside the fold br A shepherd's pipe lies shattered near his sheep. br Lo! in the moonlight gleams a marble white, br On which I read: "Here lieth one whose name br Was writ in water." And was this the meed br Of his sweet singing? Rather let me write: br "The smoking flax before it burst to flame br Was quenched by death, and broken the bruised reed.