The night droops down upon the street, Shade after shade! A solemn frown Is pressing to A deeper hue The houses drab and brown; Till all in blackness touch and meet, Are mixed and melted down. All is so silent! Not a sound Comes through the dark! The gas lamps throw From here and there A feeble glare On the pavement cracked below; On the greasy, muddy ground; On the houses in a row. Those rigid houses, black and sour! Each dark thin building stretching high; Rank upon rank Of windows blank Stare from a sullen eye; With doleful aspect scowl and glower At the timid passer-by. And down between those spectre files The narrow roadway, thick with mud, Doth crouch and hide! While close beside The gutter churns a flood Of noisome water through the piles Of garbage, thick as blood! And tho' 'tis silent! Tho' no sound Crawls from the blackness thickly spread! Yet darkness brings Grim, noiseless things That walk as they were dead! They glide, and peer, and steal around, With stealthy, silent tread! You dare not walk! That awful crew Might speak or laugh as you pass by! Might touch and paw With a formless claw, Or leer from a sodden eye! Might whisper awful things they knew! -- Or wring their hands and cry! There is the doorway mean and low! And there are the houses drab and brown! And the night's black pall! And the hours that crawl! And the forms that peer and frown! And the lamps' dim glare on the slush below! And the gutter grumbling down! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...FAREWELL TO LOVE; SONNET by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE A BALLAD OF HELL by JOHN DAVIDSON |