The Poetry Corner

Nightfall

By John Frederick Freeman

I Eve goes slowly Dancing lightly Clad with shadow up the hills; Birds their singing Cease at last, and silence Falling like fine rain the valley fills. Not a bat's cry Stirs the stillness Perfect as broad water sleeping, Not a moth's wings Flit in the gathering darkness, Not a mouselike moonray ev'n comes creeping. Then a light shines From the casement, Wreathed with jasmine boughs and stars, Palely golden As the late eve's primrose, Glimmers through green leafy prison bars. II Only joy now Come in silence, Come before your look's forgot; Come and hearken While the lonely shadow Broadens on the hill and then is not. Now the hour is, Here the place is, Here am I who saw thee here. Evening darkens All is still and marvellous, Now the sharp stars in the deep sky peer. Come and fill me As the wind fills Leafy wide boughs of a tree; Come and windlike Cleanse my slumbrous branches, Come and moonlike bathe the leaves of me. III Eve has gone and Night follows, Every bush is now a ghost; Every tree looms Lofty large and sombre; All day's simple friendliness is lost. See the poplars Black in blackness, In all their leaves there is no sigh. 'Neath that darkling Cedar who dare wander Now, or under the vast oak would lie!... Till that tingling Silence broken Every clod renews its breath; Birds, leaves, grasses Heave as one, then sleep on Full of sweeter sleep and unlike death. IV Only joy now Come like music Falling clear from strings of light; Come like shadow Drinking up late sunrays, Come like moonrays sweeping the round night. See how night is Opening flowerlike: Open so thy bosom to me. See how earth falls Easeful into silence: Let my moth-wing'd thought so fall on thee. While the lamp's beam Primrose golden Now is like a shifting spear Borne in battle, Seen awhile then hidden, Bold then beaten--now long lost, and here!