| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | “Night and its dews come silently to earth” | | By Albert Laighton (1829–1887) |
| | | NIGHT and its dews come silently to earth, | |
| Like kindred mourners to the grave of Day; | |
| The stars look on with pale and throbbing ray, | |
| As if through tears to watch them on their way: | |
| O holy NIGHT! what thoughts awake to birth, | 5 |
| That slumber in the day, amid its din | |
| And restless strife for gain,—its glare and sin! | |
| But NIGHT! care-soothing NIGHT!—O, I would win | |
| Thy crown of peace, and wear it on my brow; | |
| Here, at thy starry throne I bend my knee, | 10 |
| All weak and humbled. I look up to thee, | |
| And bless thee for the joy thou giv’st me now,— | |
| A joy so hushed and deep, I tremble, lest | |
| Dream-like, it fade away within my breast! | | | | |
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