An October Nocturne
The night was faint and sheer;
Immobile, road and dune.
Then, for a moment, clear,
A plane moved past the moon.
O spirit cool and frail,
Hung in the lunar fire!
Spun wire and brittle veil!
And tremblingly slowly higher!
Pure in each proven line!
The balance and the aim,
Half empty, half divine!
I saw how true you came.
Dissevered from your cause,
Your function was your goal.
Oblivious of my laws,
You made your calm patrol.
~~
Yvor Winters (1900-1968)
from Poetry, March 1938
[Poem is in the public domain in Canada]
This poem appeared as "A Nocturne for October 31" in Poetry, but is titled "An October Nocturne" in Winters's Selected Poems (1999). https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/SCSB-3662800
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