Stevenson, Robert Louis (1850–1894). A Child’s Garden of Verses and Underwoods. 1913.

42. Northwest Passage. I. Good Night

WHEN the bright lamp is carried in,

The sunless hours again begin;

O’er all without, in field and lane,

The haunted night returns again.

Now we behold the embers flee

About the firelit hearth; and see

Our pictures painted as we pass,

Like pictures, on the window-glass.

Must we to bed indeed? Well, then,

Let us arise and go like men,

And face with an undaunted tread

The long black passage up to bed.

Farewell, O brother, sister, sire!

O pleasant party round the fire!

The songs you sing, the tales you tell,

Till far to-morrow, fare ye well!