TEACHINGS OF A DAY. 329 



TWILIGHT. 



Gkay the sky, and growing dimmer, 



And the twilight lulls the sea; 

 Half in vagueness, half in glimmer, 



Nature shrouds her mystery. 



What have all the hours heen spent for ? 



Why the on and on of things ? 

 Why eternity's procession 



Of the days and evenings ? 



Hours of sunshine, hours of gloaming, 



Wing their unexplaining flight, 

 With a measured punctuation 



Of unconsciousness, at night. 



Just at sunset was translucence, 



When the west was all aflame ; 

 So I asked the sea a question, 



And an answer nearly came. 



Is there nothing but Occurrence ? 



Though each detail seem an Act, 

 Is that whole we deem so pregnant, 



But unemphasized Fact? 



Or, when dusk is in the hollows 



Of the hill-side and the wave, 

 Are things just so much in earnest 



That they cannot but be grave ? 



Nay, the lesson of the Twilight 



Is as simple as 'tis deep ; 

 Acquiescence, acquiescence, 



And the coming on of sleep. 



MIDNIGHT. 



Theke are sea and sky about me, 

 And yet nothing sense can mark; 



For a mist fills all the midnight, 

 Adding blindness to its dark. 



There is not the faintest echo 

 From the life of yesterday : 



Not the vaguest stir foretelling 

 Of a morrow on the way. 



