| William Wilfred Campbell, comp. The Oxford Book of Canadian Verse. 1913. | | | | Evening | | By Charles Sangster (1822–1893) |
| | | ONE solitary bird melodiously | |
| Trilled its sweet vesper from a grove of elm, | |
| One solitary sail upon the sea | |
| Rested, unmindful of its potent helm. | |
| |
| And down behind the forest trees the sun, | 5 |
| Arrayed in burning splendours, slowly rolled, | |
| Like to some sacrificial urn, o’errun | |
| With flaming hues of crimson, blue and gold. | |
| |
| The fisher ceased his song, hung on his oars, | |
| Pausing to look, a pulse in every breath, | 10 |
| And, in imagination, saw the shores | |
| Elysian, rising o’er the realms of Death. | |
| |
| And down on tiptoe came the gradual night, | |
| A gentle twilight first, with silver wings, | |
| And still from out the darkening infinite | 15 |
| Came shadowy forms, like deep imaginings. | |
| |
| There was no light in all the brooding air, | |
| There was no darkness yet to blind the eyes, | |
| But through the space interminable, there | |
| Nature and Silence passed in solemn guise. | 20 | | | |
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