Celia Thaxter

Twilight

SEPTEMBER’S slender crescent grows again
    Distinct in yonder peaceful evening red,
    Clearer the stars are sparkling overhead,
And all the sky is pure, without a stain.
 
Cool blows the evening wind from out the West
    And bows the flowers, the last sweet flowers that bloom, —
    Pale asters, many a heavy-waving plume
Of goldenrod that bends as if opprest.
 
The summer’s songs are hushed. Up the lone shore
    The weary waves wash sadly, and a grief
    Sounds in the wind, like farewells fond and brief.
The cricket’s chirp but makes the silence more.
 
Life’s autumn comes; the leaves begin to fall;
    The moods of spring and summer pass away;
    The glory and the rapture, day by day,
Depart, and soon the quiet grave folds all.
 
O thoughtful sky, how many eyes in vain
    Are lifted to your beauty, full of tears!
    How many hearts go back through all the years,
Heavy with loss, eager with questioning pain,
 
To read the dim Hereafter, to obtain
    One glimpse beyond the earthly curtain, where
    Their dearest dwell, where they may be or e’er
September’s slender crescent shines again!
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