The nights were not made for crowds, and they sever You from your neighbour, and you shall never Seek him, defiantly, at night. But if you make your dark house light, To look on strangers in your room, You must reflect -- on whom. False lights that on men's faces play Distort them gruesomely. You look upon a disarray, A world that seems to reel and sway, A waving, glittering sea. On foreheads gleams a yellow shine, Where thoughts are chased away, Their glances flicker mad from wine, And to the words they say Strange heavy gestures make reply That struggle in the buzzing room; And they say always "I" and "I," And mean--they know not whom. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PRAYER FOR COURAGE by LOUIS UNTERMEYER NOCTURNAL SKETCH; BLANK VERSE IN RHYME by THOMAS HOOD HUGH SELWYN MAUBERLEY: 9. MR. NIXON by EZRA POUND PHRYGES: JUSTICE PROTECTS THE KING by AESCHYLUS THE VAICES THAT BE GONE by WILLIAM BARNES SHOOTING STAR AT HARVEST by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN AN INDIAN AT THE BURIAL PLACE OF HIS FATHERS by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT |