Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow (b. 1807-d. 1882)
Hymn To The Night
Aspasie, trillistos.
1 I heard the trailing
garments of the Night
2 Sweep through her marble
halls!
3 I saw her sable skirts all fringed with light
4 From the celestial walls!
5 I felt her presence,
by its spell of might,
6 Stoop o'er me from above;
7 The calm, majestic presence of the Night,
8 As of the one I love.
9 I heard the sounds
of sorrow and delight,
10 The manifold, soft chimes,
11 That fill the haunted chambers of the Night,
12 Like some old poet's rhymes.
13 From the cool cisterns of
the midnight air
14 My spirit drank repose;
15 The fountain of perpetual peace flows there, --
16 From those deep cisterns flows.
17 O holy Night! from thee I
learn to bear
18 What man has borne before!
19 Thou layest thy finger on the lips of Care,
20 And they complain no more.
21 Peace! Peace! Orestes-like
I breathe this prayer!
22 Descend with broad-winged flight,
23 The welcome, the thrice-prayed for, the most fair,
24 The best-beloved Night!
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