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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
AS THE DAY BREAKS, by ERNEST MCGAFFEY First Line: I pray you, what's asleep? Last Line: The night is gone. | |||
I PRAY you, what's asleep? The lily-pads, and riffles, and the reeds; No longer inward do the waters creep, No longer outwardly their force recedes, And widowed Night, in blackness wide and deep, Resumes her weeds. I pray you, what's awake? A host of stars, the long, long milky way That stretches out, a glistening silver flake, All glorious beneath the moon's cold ray, And myriad reflections on the lake Where star-gleams lay. I pray you, what's astir? Why, naught but rustling leaves, dry, sere, and brown: The East's broad gates are yet a dusky blur, And star-gems twinkle in fair Luna's crown, And minor chords of wailing winds that were Die slowly down. I pray you, what's o'clock? Nay! who shall answer that but gray-stoled dawn? See, how from out the shadows looms yon rock, Like some great figure on a canvas drawn; And heard you not the crowing of the cock? The night is gone. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A CALIFORNIA IDYL by ERNEST MCGAFFEY LITTLE BIG HORN by ERNEST MCGAFFEY THE LITTLE FIRE IN THE WOODS by HAYDEN CARRUTH THE SACHEM OF THE CLOUDS (A THANKSGIVING LEGEND) by ROBERT FROST I'VE NOTHING TO OFFER by DAVID IGNATOW THE EXPANDED COMPOSITION by CLARENCE MAJOR THE HEART'S RETURN by EDWIN MARKHAM SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: COONEY POTTER by EDGAR LEE MASTERS THE BISHOP ORDERS HIS TOMB AT SAINT PRAXED'S CHURCH by ROBERT BROWNING |
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