EVEN as a dragon's eye that feels the stress br Of a bedimming sleep, or as a lamp br Suddenly glaring through sepulchral damp, br So burns yon Taper 'mid a black recess br Of mountains, silent, dreary, motionless: br The lake below reflects it not; the sky, br Muffled in clouds, affords no company br To mitigate and cheer its loneliness. br Yet, round the body of that joyless Thing br Which sends so far its melancholy light, br Perhaps are seated in domestic ring br A gay society with faces bright, br Conversing, reading, laughing;--or they sing, br While hearts and voices in the song unite.