New Zealand Verse/Nightfall

by Mary Harriet Poynter

XXXIII.

Nightfall.

Sweep up, oh! wind of night, from out the eastward,
 Sweep down, oh! mist of night, as dies the day;
Sweep low between us and the mountain ranges,
            And hide the stars away.

Hide all the hope of day, oh! night of shadows;
 The moon’s bright promise, and the noontide’s light.
Take all the outside world for your possession—
            Oh! phantoms of the night.

Within are lights you cannot hide or darken,
 Spirits of nightfall, wheresoe’er you roam;
The light of fires upon the home-hearth burning,
            Heart-love within the home.

Mary H. Poynter.