dots-menu
×

Home  »  The Book of the Sonnet  »  Albert Laighton (1829–1887)

Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867.

“Night and its dews come silently to earth”

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,

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,

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!