Classic and Contemporary Poetry
AFTER SUNSET, by GRACE HAZARD CONKLING Poet's Biography First Line: I have an understanding with the hills Last Line: And terror shall be past, and grief, and war. Subject(s): Evening; Sunset; Twilight | ||||||||
I have an understanding with the hills At evening when the slanted radiance fills Their hollows, and the great winds let them be, And they are quiet and look down at me. Oh, then I see the patience in their eyes Out of the centuries that made them wise. They lend me hoarded memory and I learn Their thoughts of granite and their whims of fern, And why a dream of forests must endure Though every tree be slain: and how the pure, Invisible beauty has a word so brief A flower can say it or a shaken leaf, But few may ever snare it in a song, Though for the quest a life is not too long. When the blue hills grow tender, when they pull The twilight close with gesture beautiful, And shadows are their garments, and the air Deepens, and the wild veery is at prayer, -- Their arms are strong around me; and I know That somehow I shall follow when you go To the still land beyond the evening star, Where everlasting hills and valleys are: And silence may not hurt us any more, And terror shall be past, and grief, and war. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...JOURNEY INTO THE EYE by DAVID LEHMAN FEBRUARY EVENING IN NEW YORK by DENISE LEVERTOV THE HOUSE OF DUST: 1 by CONRAD AIKEN TWILIGHT COMES by HAYDEN CARRUTH IN THE EVENINGS by LUCILLE CLIFTON NINETEEN FORTY by NORMAN DUBIE VICTORY BELLS by GRACE HAZARD CONKLING |
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