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| TWILIGHT, a blossom grey in shadowy valleys dwells: | |
| Under the radiant dark the deep blue-tinted bells | |
| In quietness reïmage heaven within their blooms, | |
| Sapphire and gold and mystery. What strange perfumes, | |
| Out of what deeps arising, all the flower-bells fling, | 5 |
| Unknowing the enchanted odorous song they sing! | |
| Oh, never was an eve so living yet: the wood | |
| Stirs not but breathes enraptured quietude. | |
| Here in these shades the ancient knows itself, the soul, | |
| And out of slumber waking starts unto the goal. | 10 |
| What bright companions nod and go along with it! | |
| Out of the teeming dark what dusky creatures flit, | |
| That through the long leagues of the island night above | |
| Come by me, wandering, whispering, beseeching love; | |
| As in the twilight children gather close and press | 15 |
| Nigh and more nigh with shadowy tenderness, | |
| Feeling they know not what, with noiseless footsteps glide | |
| Seeking familiar lips or hearts to dream beside. | |
| O voices, I would go with you, with you, away, | |
| Facing once more the radiant gateways of the day; | 20 |
| With you, with you, what memories arise, and nigh | |
| Trampling the crowded figures of the dawn go by | |
| Dread deities, the giant powers that warred on men | |
| Grow tender brothers and gay children once again; | |
| Fades every hate away before the Mother’s breast | 25 |
| Where all the exiles of the heart return to rest. | |
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