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Sunset in Arkansas
(Excerpt)
SUNSET again! Behind the massy green | |
| Of the continuous oaks the sun hath fallen, | |
| And his last rays have struggled through, between | |
| The leaf-robed branches, as hopes intervene | |
| Amid grave cares. The western sky is wallen | 5 |
| With shadowy mountains, built upon the marge | |
| Of the horizon, from eve’s purple sheen, | |
| And thin, gray clouds, that insolently lean | |
| Their silver cones upon the crimson verge | |
| Of the high zenith, while their unseen base | 10 |
| Is rocked by lightning. It will show its eye | |
| When dusky Night comes. Eastward, you can trace | |
| No stain, no spot of cloud upon a sky, | |
| Pure as an angel’s brow. | |
| The winds have folded up their swift wings now, | 15 |
| And, all asleep, high up in their cloud-cradles lie. | |
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| Beneath the trees, the dusky, purple glooms | |
| Are growing deeper, more material, | |
| In windless solitude. The young flower-blooms | |
| Richly exhale their thin, invisible plumes | 20 |
| Of odor, which they yield not at the call | |
| Of the hot sun. The birds all sleep within | |
| Unshaken nests; save the gray owl, that booms | |
| His plaintive cry, like one that mourns strange dooms; | |
| And the sad whippoorwill, with lonely din. | 25 |
| There is a deep, calm beauty all around, | |
| A heavy, massive, melancholy look, | |
| A unison of lonely sight and sound, | |
| Which touch us, till the soul can hardly brook | |
| Its own sad feelings here. | 30 |
| They do not wring from the full heart a tear, | |
| But give us heavy thoughts, like reading a sad book. * * * * * | |
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