Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE QUIET NIGHTS, by KATHARINE TYNAN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE QUIET NIGHTS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Unmindful of my low desert
Last Line: And name my lovely nights of sleep.
Alternate Author Name(s): Hinkson, Katharine Tynan
Subject(s): Blessings; God; Night; Quiet Life; Sleep; Bedtime


UNMINDFUL of my low desert,
Who turn e'en blessings to my hurt,
God sends me graces o'er and o'er,
More than the sands on the seashore.

Among the blessings He doth give
My starveling soul that she may live,
I praise Him for my nights He kept
And all the quiet sleep I slept,

Since I was young, who now grow old;
For all those nights of heat, of cold,
I slept the sweet hours through, nor heard
Even the call of the first bird.

Nights when the darkness covered me
In a great peace like a great sea,
With waves of sweetness, who should lie
Wakeful for mine iniquity.

Cool nights of fragrance, dripping sweet,
After the sultriness of heat,
Amid grey meadows drenched with dew;
Sweet was the sleep my eyelids knew.

Surely some angel kept my bed
After I had knelt down and prayed.
Like a young child I slept, until
The day stood at the window-sill.

I thank Him for the nights of stars,
Bright Saturn with his rings, and Mars,
And overhead the Milky Way,
Nights when the summer lightnings play.

How many a Milky Way I trod,
And through the mercy of my God
Drank milk and honey, wrapped in ease
Of darkness and sweet heaviness!

I thank Him for the wakening bird,
And the struck hours I have not heard,
And for the morns so cool, so kind,
That found me fresh in heart and mind.

Among the gifts of His mercy,
More than the leaves upon the tree,
The sands upon the shore, I keep
And name my lovely nights of sleep.





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