The Earth Turns South/The Night Cometh

by Clement Richardson Wood

THE NIGHT COMETH

The Night said: "I plunge into the fiery dawn."
—Tagore.

 

Night, you have yielded me royally
Your dear person.
Great was my thirst for love,
And you lifted my soul to the wide clasp
Of your dark, star-jeweled bosom.

Now the due time of love is spent—
The sea of morning is at flood;
You plunge into its fiery splendor,
And I cannot call you back.

I will hold myself for your next embrace.
You will swim powerfully, lithe maiden,
Beneath the bright flood,
And arise, shaking off the dripping sunset,
On the western shore

You do not mind these lessening tides . . .
There will come a time
When morning will only ebb,
And, tossing aside your dulled jewels,
You will sit quietly, communing with yourself,
For an unending season.