The speaker gazes at the moon and imagines it as a dream-peacock, silent yet covered in golden stars. Its great fan of light seems to open through the branches of a tree, so the whole scene feels like a dance. The questions — what dance, what rain-cloud has it seen — are not puzzles to solve; they express awe. The speaker is caught between wonder and a soft longing, as if the moon knows something hidden in the vast, ungraspable night. The mood is hushed and enchanted, almost like a reverie. The paradox of a “voice of silence” suggests that this beauty communicates without words, and the image of the rain-cloud hints at refreshment or remembrance just out of reach. Overall, it feels like a glimpse of the ordinary night turning magical.
What Dream-Peacock, This Moon — Summary
What dream-peacock, this moon. With voice of silence, Bejeweled with the golden stars,
With its spread fan, the tree — What dance, this? What rain-cloud hath it seen In the sky of night's intangibility?