Nightfall

( Originally Published 1868 )

MARGARET JUNKIN

The calm, full day, so flushed with light,
So draped in placid majesty,
Has sunk beneath the mystic sea
That shrouds the immortal from our sight.

We revelled in its affluent rays,
We sunned us in its atmosphere ;
We drank its beauty—breathed its cheer,
And felt its bliss a thousand ways.

What princely flowers filled its morn !
What rich results its noontide hours
I How nobly its unresting powers
Have all the heat and burden borne !

'Tis well that kindly night should come
With precious silence and release :
So in our souls we whisper " peace"
At such a tranquil sinking home.

But while we miss the golden bars
That bounded in this day so bright,
We look aloft—and to ! the night
That closes round us throbs with stars