Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE LIGHTS OF LAWRENCE, by ERNEST WARBURTON SHURTLEFF



Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE LIGHTS OF LAWRENCE, by                    
First Line: The night's dark curtain trails the east
Last Line: Like lights of lawrence burning clear!
Subject(s): Lawrence, Massachusetts; Light


THE night's dark curtain trails the East
With stars upon each somber fold.
The comedy of day has ceased,
The smiles are done, the tales are told.
A moment in the dusk I stand
And look out from my window heights,
Where, shining o'er the shadowed land,
I see a line of golden lights—
The lights of Lawrence burning clear
That star the night with peace and cheer.

How beautiful! How still they are!
Like jewels set in ebon shade—
Each holding vigils like a star,
Each doing duty, beauty-paid.
For there is duty in their light;
No dream they hold of being fair;
They burn to keep the city bright
And show their glory unaware—

They shine to lead the weary feet
That through the city come and go;
Some shine on faces young and sweet,
And some on faces touched with woe.
From lonely haunts of want and pain,
As well as highways rich and wide,
They pour their beauty o'er the plain
At dusk of closing eventide—

I cannot see the walls of stone
That through the city's darkness rise,
The spires that tower to heaven alone
To ring Time's knell amid the skies.
All these are buried in the shade,
With all the riches they may hold.
They lend no hope, no friendly aid
To lift the Autumn darkness cold—
But Lawrence lights are burning clear
And star the night with peace and cheer.

The noblest lives that bless the earth
Are those that thus reveal their light,
While lives that tower in worldly worth
Are hidden in the cold of night.
The lives that lead the weary feet
That through Life's city come and go,
That shine on faces young and sweet
And faces touched with want and woe—
God bless the lives that give us cheer,
Like lights of Lawrence burning clear!





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