Classic and Contemporary Poetry
IN THE GRAY OF THE EVENING; AUTUMN, by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: When o'er yon forest solitudes Last Line: Secrets almost ineffable! Subject(s): Autumn; Evening; Seasons; Fall; Sunset; Twilight | ||||||||
WHEN o'er yon forest solitudes The sky of autumn evening broods -- A heaven whose warp, but palely bright, Shot through with woofs of crimson light, So slowly wanes with waning day -- Whatever thoughts, pathetic, sweet Are wont to fawn round Memory's feet, Pleading with soft and sacred stress To be upcaught in tenderness; Whatever thoughts like these there are, Choose the weird hour 'twixt sun and star, Of failing breeze, and whisperous sea, And that still heaven o'er leaf and lea, To come -- each thought a temperate bliss -- Embracing the calmed soul, to kiss The pallor of old cares away. O twilight sky of mellow gray, Flushed with faint hues! O voiceful trees, Lilting low ballads to the breeze! O all ye mild amenities Wherewith the solemn eve is rife, At this strange hour 'twixt death and life; The death of beauteous day, whose last Dim tints are almost overpast, Who lives alone in odors blent Of every subtlest element, Borne on a fairy rain-like dew, Exhaled, not dropped from out the blue; The life of stars that one by one Are mustering o'er the sunken sun, And wafts of vague earth-perfume blown Up to the pine-tree's quivering cone, From heath-flowers hidden in cool grass, -- Like spells of delicate balm, ye pass Into my wearied heart and brain. What room for any sordid pain Within me now? Ah! Nature seems Through something sweeter than all dreams, To woo me; yea, she seems to speak How closely, kindly, her fond cheek Rested on mine, her mystic blood Pulsing in tender neighborhood, And soft as any mortal maid, Half veiled in the twilight shade, Who leans above her love to tell Secrets almost ineffable! | 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 A STORM IN THE DISTANCE (AMONG THE GEORGIAN HILLS) by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE |
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