Poems (Dorr)/Night and Morning

by Julia Caroline Dorr

NIGHT AND MORNING

I.

Night and darkness over all!Nature sleeps beneath a pall;Not a ray from moon or starsGlimmers through the cloudy bars;Huge and black the mountains standFrowning upon either hand,And the river, dark and deep,Gropes its way from steep to steep.Yonder tree, whose young leaves playedIn the sunshine and the shade,Stretches out its arms like oneSudden blindness hath undone.Pale and dim the rose-queen liesRobbed of all her gorgeous dyes,And the lily bendeth low,Mourner in a garb of woe.Never a shadow comes or goes,Never a gleam its glory throwsOver cottage or over hall—Darkness broodeth over all!

II.

Lo! the glorious morning breaks!Nature from her sleep awakes,And, in purple pomp, the dayBids the darkness flee away. Crowned with light the mountains standRoyally on either hand,And the laughing waters runIn glad haste to meet the sun.Stately trees, exultant, raiseTheir proud heads in grateful praise;Flowers, dew-laden, everywherePour rich incense on the air,And the ascending vapors riseLike the smoke of sacrifice.Birds are trilling, bees are humming,Swift to greet the new day coming,And earth's myriad voices singHymns of grateful welcoming.Bursting from night's heavy thrall,Heaven's own light is over all!