Winter Nightfall / Robert Bridges

         
Winter Nightfall

The day begins to droop,—
      Its course is done:
But nothing tells the place
      Of the setting sun.

The hazy darkness deepens,
      And up the lane
You may hear, but cannot see,
      The homing wain.

An engine pants and hums
      In the farm hard by:
Its lowering smoke is lost
      In the lowering sky.

The soaking branches drip,
      And all night through
The dropping will not cease
      In the avenue.

A tall man there in the house
      Must keep his chair:
He knows he will never again
      Breathe the spring air:

His heart is worn with work;
      He is giddy and sick
If he rise to go as far
      As the nearest rick:

He thinks of his morn of life,
      His hale, strong years;
And braves as he may the night
      Of darkness and tears.

~~
Robert Bridges (1844-1930)
from Poetical Works, Volume II, 1899.

[Poem is in the public domain in Canada, the United States, and the European Union]

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