James Whitcomb Riley

Last Night

Last night—how deep the darkness was!
And well I knew its depths, because
I waded it from shore to shore,
Thinking to reach the light no more.
 
She would not even touch my hand—-.
The winds rose and the cedars fanned
The moon out, and the stars fled back
In heaven and hid—and all was black!
 
But ah! To-night a summons came,
Signed with a tear-drop for a name,
For as I wondering kissed it, lo
A line beneath it told me so.
 
And now—the moon hangs over me
A disk of dazzling brilliancy,
And every star-tip stabs my sights
With splintered glitterings of light!
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