Classic and Contemporary Poetry
AT NIGHT, by DOLLIE CAROLINE MAITLAND RADFORD Poet's Biography First Line: The door is shut and barred upon my home Last Line: The brooding night that knows its great intent. Alternate Author Name(s): Radford, Ernest, Mrs. Subject(s): Night; Bedtime | ||||||||
THE door is shut and barred upon my home, My home that for so long has held my pain, My home where all my tears were wept in vain, And through the night in silence I am come, And my tired hope that all the day was dumb, Has dropped to perish as a wounded bird; And through the night there is not any word To save my hope whose wings grow cold and numb: The darkness presses close on either hand, Oh, I am out upon a driving sea And strain and break to ride as I were free, I drift on swelling tides that seek no strand, That never more may break upon the land, The great unchannelled floods of misery. II The future holds one plot of barren earth That my long grief shall water into flower, And one unborn shall gather there for dower A perfect blossom that shall have its birth, So rare I may not guess its shape or worth: And there shall be one day so full of joy, Shall heal my shattered days with sweet employ, Shall flood their wistful patience with its mirth; Such must there be, oh God, Who made the waste So bare beneath the Heaven, Who hast spread The stones upon the path that I must tread, Who set the thorns through which I may not haste, The bitter fruits which I must faint to taste, Such must there be, oh God, Who art o'erhead. III For those who in Love's Service have no part, Whose altars stand in shadow and are bare, Whose silence never breaks to praise or prayer, For those whose hands are empty in Love's mart, Who through Thy night and day-time feel the smart, The pain of pilgrims outcast from Thy grace, Who in Love's company have found no place, But bear Thy doom, oh God, Who made the heart To thirst to madness with its long desire, -- For those, drop down the deep sleep of Thy might -- For those, oh God, whose pale uncertain flight From Thy refusals may not rest nor tire, Who drift, as smoke is drifted from the fire, Across a mighty hope that fills the night. IV A storm is passing through the night, and soon The heavy clouds are out upon their road, From east and west they gather up their load, And from the night they ask not any boon But their old right to sweep across the moon, To blot its light and hide the paling stars, To drop their torrents down, and leave the scars Of their fierce passion on the unborn noon: And deep within the night's unbroken breath The blinding courses of their fires are bent, Their anguish of rebellion poured and spent; And in Night's even pulse no failing saith How close its ancient bond is held with Death, The brooding Night that knows its great intent. | 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 TO MY CHILDREN: 3 by DOLLIE CAROLINE MAITLAND RADFORD |
|