Poems (Van Rensselaer)/In Lower New York

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4645610Poems — In Lower New YorkMariana Griswold Van Rensselaer
IN LOWER NEW YORK
Stand here with me. The throngs dissolve away.
The sunset fades. A single star grows bright.
The moon as purely sheds her balm of light
Through these cliff-corridors as on the bay
Pure-spread beyond them. Sea-breeze murmurs say,
Not all of time is pledged for gain, the night
Means sleeping even here, and in despite
Of gold and greed will dawn a Sabbath-day.

There is no peace like this, the deep repose
Of citadels of haggard restlessness.
Prairie and mountain-top and twilit snows
Breathe of the benison of silence less
Than these tired streets, dazed with the noise of men,
When the calm darkness bids them rest again.