Homes stand in slumber. Sleep broods shadowingly In this deserted street's far-vista'd night, Save only where a little mortal light Sheds on the pave its careful boundary And shines a kindly host to each degree Of city wraith, where wan street shadows plight Strange troths. Lost footsteps echo and unite In a refrain that seems a threnody. The sweet low laughter of a girl's first tryst, The sob of homeless poverty, faint cries Struck dumb,—loud Folly, Mirth the satirist!— In silence once again Fate's byway lies. Brave little star, dawn pales, and through the mist Sadly you wane. How sad, and oh, how wise! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BALINESE WITCH DOCTOR by KAREN SWENSON THE VIKING GRAVE AT LADBY by KAREN SWENSON A GRAMMARIAN'S FUNERAL by ROBERT BROWNING MY AIN COUNTRIE by MARY LEE DEMAREST GENTLEMEN-RANKERS by RUDYARD KIPLING ASTROPHEL AND STELLA: 110 by PHILIP SIDNEY THE STEAM-ENGINE: CANTO 10. THE RAILWAY BOOM, 1845 by T. BAKER |