Classic Poem

Sunset

Now the day declines,
And the rooks in lines and lines
Fly home to their windy realms
In the bald old oak and the elms.
Behold them, afar in the west,
They call and call;
Pilgrims and heralds of rest
When the shadows fall. ...
Ah, didst thou hear it? — the Wind
Whispering, " Ah, ah! "

Twilight

With crumbling coals a-smoulder
And cinders grey,
Low burns the hearth of day;
Burns on, while day grown older
Wears away.
An east wind icily whistles
And blows the coals aflame:
Ah, didst thou hear the thistles
When the wind came? —
The willows and sedges
And dead leaves caught in the hedges?
Ah, didst thou hear it? — the Wind
Wailing, " Ah, ah! "

Curfew

The water-rat delves and burrows
Into the ground;
With a clicking sound
The halting sluices freeze;
And man comes home from the furrows
And the sodden leas.
He bolts his doors
And draws his casement tight,
The chimney roars
And the ingle's warm and bright.
Man takes his ease,
And a babe plays round his knees:
While out in the night
The streams freeze. ...
O man, didst thou hear it? — the Wind
Moaning, " Ah, ah! "

Midnight

Under the rending skies
And the groaning boughs,
Dreaming all night he lies
In his frail house:
Out in the dark
Kine low, dogs bark,
And the giant winds with a shout
Go trampling and treading about.
Man lies secure, he deems,
And troubles not to rouse,
Dreaming deluding dreams
In his frail house;
While the winds carouse,
And round
And round,
And nearer,
Nearer,
Sweep the Eumenides
And the roaring Destinies.
O, if he knew thee, Wind,
Hallooing, " Woe, Woe! "