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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE MILKY WAY, by GRACE DENIO LITCHFIELD Poet's Biography First Line: Evening has come; and across the skies Last Line: Guiding our thoughts to god. Subject(s): Evening; Sky; Stars; Universe; Sunset; Twilight | |||
EVENING has come; and across the skies— Out through the darkness that, quivering, dies— Beautiful, broad, and white, Fashioned of many a silver ray Stolen out of the ruins of Day, Grows the pale bridge of the Milky Way, Built by the architect Night. Dim with shadows, and bright with stars, Hung like gold lights on invisible bars Stirred by the wind's spent breath, Rising on cloud-shapen pillars of grey, Perfect it stands, like a tangible way Binding to-morrow with yesterday, Reaching to Life from Death. Dark show the heavens on either side; Soft flows the blue in a waveless tide Under the silver arch; Never a footstep is heard below, Echoing earthward, as measured and slow, Over the bridge the still hours go Bound on their trackless march. Is it a pathway leading to Heaven Over Earth's sin-clouds, rent and riven With its supernal light, Crossed by the souls of the loved who have flown Stilly away from our arms, and alone Up to the beautiful, great, white Throne Pass in the hush of night? Is it the road that our wild dreams walk, Far beyond reach of our waking talk, Out to the vague and grand— Far beyond Fancy's uttermost range, Out to the Dream-world of marvel and change, Out to the mystic, unreal and strange— Out to the Wonderland? Is it the way that the angels take When they come down by night to wake Over the slumbering Earth? Is it the way the faint stars go back, Driven by insolent Day from his track Into the distant mysterious Black Where their bright souls had birth? What may it be? Who may certainly say? Over the shadowy Milky Way No human foot hath trod. Æons have passed; but unsullied and white, Still it stands, fair as a rainbow of night, Held like a promise above our dark sight, Guiding our thoughts to God. | 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 BIRTHDAY SONG by GRACE DENIO LITCHFIELD |
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