Classic and Contemporary Poetry
NIGHT, by JAMES MONTGOMERY Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Night is the time for rest Last Line: To parting friends;such death be mine. Alternate Author Name(s): The Common Lot Subject(s): Night; Bedtime | ||||||||
NIGHT is the time for rest: How sweet, when labors close, To gather round an aching breast The curtain of repose, Stretch the tired limbs, and lay the head Down on our own delightful bed! Night is the time for dreams: The gay romance of life, When truth that is, and truth that seems, Mix in fantastic strife; Ah! visions, less beguiling far Than waking dreams by daylight are! Night is the time for toil: To plow the classic field, Intent to find the buried spoil Its wealthy furrows yield; Till all is ours that sages taught, That poets sang, and heroes wrought. Night is the time to weep: To wet with unseen tears Those graves of Memory, where sleep The joys of other years; Hopes, that were Angels at their birth, But died when young, like things of earth. Night is the time to watch: O'er ocean's dark expanse, To hail the Pleiades, or catch The full moon's earliest glance, That brings into the homesick mind All we have loved and left behind. Night is the time for care: Brooding on hours misspent, To see the specter of Despair Come to our lonely tent; Like Brutus, midst his slumbering host, Summoned to die by Cæsar's ghost. Night is the time to think: When, from the eye, the soul Takes flight; and on the utmost brink Of yonder starry pole Discerns beyond the abyss of night The dawn of uncreated light. Night is the time to pray: Our Saviour oft withdrew To desert mountains far away; So will his follower do, Steal from the throng to haunts untrod, And commune there alone with God. Night is the time for Death: When all around is peace, Calmly to yield the weary breath, From sin and suffering cease, Think of heaven's bliss, and give the sign To parting friends;such death be mine. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BREATH OF NIGHT by RANDALL JARRELL HOODED NIGHT by ROBINSON JEFFERS NIGHT WITHOUT SLEEP by ROBINSON JEFFERS WORKING OUTSIDE AT NIGHT by DENIS JOHNSON POEM TO TAKE BACK THE NIGHT by JUNE JORDAN COOL DARK ODE by DONALD JUSTICE POEM TO BE READ AT 3 A.M by DONALD JUSTICE ROUND ABOUT MIDNIGHT by BOB KAUFMAN A MOTHER'S LOVE by JAMES MONTGOMERY |
|