DUSK falls and smothers sound and sense; Night's in a gentle mood And a blue veil of sweet pretence Swathes the star multitude. What's to accept and what's to praise When, days frail urge o'erthrown, Strides the impenetrable maze Night in his wizard gown? Can suns that rend the ether flood With terror of their fires Look quietly down on men who brood On man's mundane desires? O Alpha of the showering tress To whom the faithful pray, What can you know of steadfastness Who have yourself no stay? The stars in roaring gales of light Whirl on their blazing cores, Gold bubbles of torrential might Blowing to timeless shores. All heaven's wild with clots of flame Hurled by Time's grenadiers; Through aeons of misguided aim Rove the mad, homeless spheres. Their routes consigned or unconsigned, Flame-birds in heaven's simoom They fret their myriad years to find Inexorable doom. Dead sources of eternal day Ground to malignant dust Stain the undying solar ray With their undying must. When shall these orbs their course complete? What law in frenzy lies? The staggered mind accepts defeat Which the still heart denies. For there's a miracle of sound The faithful watcher hears: Like leaves that patter to the ground The falling of the years.... While lovers wandering near the lake Where heaven, reflected, glows, Pause on their loitering path to take From its quiet bush a rose. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LA NOCHE TRISTE by ROBERT FROST THE DINNER-PARTY by AMY LOWELL JUNIUS BRUTUS BOOTH by EDGAR LEE MASTERS ISAIAH, JEREMIAH, EXEKIEL, DANIEL by MARIANNE MOORE MY SENSES DO NOT DECEIVE ME by MARIANNE MOORE GIRL IN A CAGE by CARL SANDBURG THE LIVING STARS by GEORGE SANTAYANA THE UNDERGRADUATE KILLED IN BATTLE; OXFORD, 1915 by GEORGE SANTAYANA |