| Padraic Colum (1881–1972). Anthology of Irish Verse. 1922. |
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| 144. Night |
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| By Joseph Blanco White |
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| MYSTERIOUS Night! When our first parent knew | |
| Thee, from report divine, and heard thy name, | |
| Did he not tremble for this lovely Frame, | |
| This glorious canopy of Light and Blue? | |
| Yet, ’neath a curtain of translucent dew, | 5 |
| Bathed in the rays of the great setting Flame, | |
| Hesperus, with the Host of Heaven, came, | |
| And lo! Creation widened on Man’s view. | |
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| Who could have thought such darkness lay concealed | |
| Within thy beams, O Sun! or who could find, | 10 |
| Whilst flower and leaf and insect stood revealed, | |
| That to such countless orbs thou mad’st us blind! | |
| Why do we then shun Death with anxious strife? | |
| If Light can thus deceive, wherefore not Life? | |
| | | Blanco White was born in Seville of an exiled Irish family. |
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