Poems (Jordan)/Winter Twilight
WINTER TWILIGHT
The bare, brown trees against the setting sun, Appear as logs a-quiver in the blaze;Like smoke arising thence comes Twilight on, Dimming the brightness with an ashen haze.
Anon, like dying embers, from the which There flashes forth a momentary spark,The tree-tops glow, and broken shadows pitch Noiselessly down—charred splinters of the Dark!
The fire burns low, and ev'ry tint-robed cloud Steals through Earth's western door with noiseless tread,To issue thence bearing a seamless shroud In which to wrap the Day, so sudden dead.
And by-and-by the gray-gloved hand of Night Sets yellow tapers 'round Day's dusky bier;The Moon approaches—silent, calm and white, And mourning winds are wildly sobbing near.