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Time and Place

May Night

page 35

May Night

The long nights of late May repose to the soul afford;
First snows are fallen to the base of sentinel mountains,
Lost now by fusion of earth and heaven in northern dusk.

A watch of stars is set exalt in the dark sapphire sky,
Sharp the rays strike upon steel-cold spaces;
The frost-stark city-plain glistens with topaz lights.

Glassy-cold, crystal-cold and still-fast, the quickened air
Smites like musical clang of a bell on exulting spirit,
Sense-apprised but unshackled, but free, in heaven-bound flight.

Beholding the noble universe as many-faceted gem
Fast in a royal crown of power, enhancing its splendour,
Not forlorn in the murky dust of uncharted, anonymous mines.

The rolling worlds in their courses seem, suddenly halted and stayed
By majestical word, to be standing hushed and motionless,
And the populous planet, earth, struck dumb, for a short space.

Here is richness of solitude for tacit work of the mind,
But as singular treasure, prize, soul, this silence,
Lest haply unfulfilled the hour from thee be taken away.

(Even now up-beats the muffled tug of a freight-train
In travail beside the hidden sea; its repercussion
Taps and taps on fragile bowl of mountain quiet.…)

Too soon shall be shown on eastern horizon an urgent sign;
Too soon shall the veil be raised on intricate drama
Wherein to every man is daily allotted his transient part.

But legion stars their vigil do yet maintain on sapphire heights;
The mighty silence is such as of which it is said in the Scripture:
There was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.

O radiant night! Here is renewal. Herein is vitality.
Clear from the well of life shall spring the sparkling waters.
Bright, bright are the glittering syllables: Peace, and Perpetual Light.