STILL, still is the Night; still as the pause after pain; Still and as dear; Deep, solemn, immense; veiling the stars in the clear Thrilling and luminous blue of the moon-shot atmosphere; Ah, could the Night remain! Who, truly, shall say thou art sullen or dark or unseen, Thou, O heavenly Night, Clear o'er the valley of olives asleep in the quivering light, Clear o'er the pale-red hedge of the rose, and the lilies all white Down at my feet in the green? Nay, not as the Day, thou art light, O Night, with a beam Far more dear and divine; Never the noon was blue as these tremulous heavens or thine, Pulsing with stars half seen, and vague in a pallid shine, Vague as a dream. Night, clear with the moon, filled with the dreamy fire Shining in thicket and close, Fire from the lamp in his breast that the luminous firefly throws; Night, full of wandering light and of song, and the blossoming rose, Night, be thou my desire! Night, Angel of Night, hold me and cover me so -- Open thy wings! Ah, bend above and embrace! -- till I hear in the one bird that sings The throb of thy musical heart in the dusk, and the magical things Only the Night can know. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...FINIS by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON BACKGROUND AND DESIGN by KAREN SWENSON MY FAMILIAR DREAM by PAUL VERLAINE IN THE TWILIGHT by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL AFTER THE WINTER by CLAUDE MCKAY THE HONEYSUCKLE by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI TO ONE WHO HAD LEFT HER CONVENT TO MARRY by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT |