NIGHT

NIGHT

'TIS solemn darkness; the sublime of shade;Night, by no stars nor rising moon relieved;The awful blank of nothingness arrayed,O'er which my eyeballs roll in vain, deceived.Upward, around, and downward I explore,E'en to the frontiers of the ebon air,But cannot, though I strive, discover moreThan what seems one huge cavern of despair.Oh, Night, art thou so grim, when, black and bareOf moonbeams, and no cloudlets to adorn,Like a nude Ethiop 'twixt two houris fair,Thou stand'st between the evening and the morn?I took thee for an angel, but have wooedA cacodæmon in mine ignorant mood.

'TIS solemn darkness; the sublime of shade;Night, by no stars nor rising moon relieved;The awful blank of nothingness arrayed,O'er which my eyeballs roll in vain, deceived.Upward, around, and downward I explore,E'en to the frontiers of the ebon air,But cannot, though I strive, discover moreThan what seems one huge cavern of despair.Oh, Night, art thou so grim, when, black and bareOf moonbeams, and no cloudlets to adorn,Like a nude Ethiop 'twixt two houris fair,Thou stand'st between the evening and the morn?I took thee for an angel, but have wooedA cacodæmon in mine ignorant mood.

'TIS solemn darkness; the sublime of shade;Night, by no stars nor rising moon relieved;The awful blank of nothingness arrayed,O'er which my eyeballs roll in vain, deceived.Upward, around, and downward I explore,E'en to the frontiers of the ebon air,But cannot, though I strive, discover moreThan what seems one huge cavern of despair.Oh, Night, art thou so grim, when, black and bareOf moonbeams, and no cloudlets to adorn,Like a nude Ethiop 'twixt two houris fair,Thou stand'st between the evening and the morn?I took thee for an angel, but have wooedA cacodæmon in mine ignorant mood.

'TIS solemn darkness; the sublime of shade;

Night, by no stars nor rising moon relieved;

The awful blank of nothingness arrayed,

O'er which my eyeballs roll in vain, deceived.

Upward, around, and downward I explore,

E'en to the frontiers of the ebon air,

But cannot, though I strive, discover more

Than what seems one huge cavern of despair.

Oh, Night, art thou so grim, when, black and bare

Of moonbeams, and no cloudlets to adorn,

Like a nude Ethiop 'twixt two houris fair,

Thou stand'st between the evening and the morn?

I took thee for an angel, but have wooed

A cacodæmon in mine ignorant mood.


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