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A MARCH EVENING
Prowling ahead? Get on! you slink
Too close. Now, were we near the brink
Instead of safe inland . . . What! Hark! . . .
One’s ear is dull’d by all this dark. . . .
Can that be—surf? . . .
. . . The night so black—
The cliff-track for the homeward-track—
Death in the dark, and no farewell—
My God! . . .
Look! look! the hideous spell
Breaks! Ay, lad, bark and run! All’s past!
Home and the lodestar face at last,
The lifted lamp, the door held wide;
“My dearest!” and the night’s outside!
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