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| THE NIGHT was dark, though sometimes a faint star | |
| A little while a little space made bright. | |
| The night was long and like an iron bar | |
| Lay heavy on the land: till o’er the sea | |
| Slowly, within the East, there grew a light | 5 |
| Which half was starlight, and half seemed to be | |
| The herald of a greater. The pale white | |
| Turned slowly to pale rose, and up the height | |
| Of heaven slowly climbed. The gray sea grew | |
| Rose-colored like the sky. A white gull flew | 10 |
| Straight toward the utmost boundary of the East, | |
| Where slowly the rose gathered and increased. | |
| It was as on the opening of a door | |
| By one that in his hand a lamp doth hold, | |
| Whose flame is hidden by the garment’s fold,— | 15 |
| The still air moves, the wide room is less dim. | |
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| More bright the East became, the ocean turned | |
| Dark and more dark against the brightening sky,— | |
| Sharper against the sky the long sea line. | |
| The hollows of the breakers on the shore | 20 |
| Were green like leaves whereon no sun doth shine, | |
| Though white the outer branches of the tree. | |
| From rose to red the level heaven burned; | |
| Then sudden, as if a sword fell from on high, | |
| A blade of gold flashed on the horizon’s rim. | 25 |
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