| Walter Murdoch (1874–1970). The Oxford Book of Australasian Verse. 1918. |
| |
| 195. Night |
| | | By H. Duncan Hall |
| |
| |
| I SAW the Night caught, as by wizard’s spell, | |
| In the red meshes of the setting sun; | |
| From her black plumes the lurid light had won | |
| A flash of sheen, and she grew visible. | |
| But like a stricken gladiator fell | 5 |
| The weak-eyed sun beyond the hills of sleep; | |
| The cloud-fires smoulder’d to a grey ash heap, | |
| And Heaven whitened to a curvèd shell. | |
| |
| Before, I never knew Night’s majesty; | |
| But now I know her beauty hath no peer | 10 |
| In heaven or earth; and when the white moon shines | |
| From th’ circlet on her brow of mystery, | |
| I see her shadow on the hills, and hear | |
| The shudder of her plumes among the pines. | |
| |
|
|
|
