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LIGHT AND NIGHT
Hands lie folded, hearts grow deep,
Thro’ hot eyelids, many a tear,
Balmy, gradual, doth creep,
Heralds of the cool-hand Sleep
Gliding slowly near.
What hath Peace to do with Light?
Come, sweet Night
Darkness drear!
Dungeon vast of voiceless gloom!
Blindfold, deaf and dumb with fear,
Like stark corpses in a tomb
Mouldering, lie we here;
While the stealthy blackness winds
Wormlike round each rotting limb,
And with slimy torpor binds
Mildew’d hearts and stagnant minds
In corruption grim.
Mercy! Give us mercy, Night!
Give us Light!
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