Classic Poem

The world is swinging nightwards; 'tis October
And twilight's on the heights;
The Bluffs like silent sentries gray and sober
Stand lonely in the fading evening lights.

As down the sky the sovereign sunlight marches
And grays to crimsons turn,
The bannered rays gleam through the western arches
And tongues of fire clear through the cloud-rifts burn.

The ruddy glow of gold and coral splendour
Bursts o'er the hills in light;
Bright Phaebus backward looks with glances tender
And smiling kindly beckons us good-night.

Like levelled lances in some knightly story,
Or daylight's purple pyre,
The red reflection of the vesper glory
Clothes all the west in garniture of fire.

Soon fades the wondrous pageant insubstantial;
Vermilions turn to gray —
The silent whisper of that rest-evangel
Whose slumber steals our burdens all away.

Now dips the sun's red rim beneath the land-line,
Now fades the glowing light;
No more the western hills are robed in sunshine,
Upon the heights of Scarboro' 'tis night.