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Home  »  The Oxford Book of English Verse  »  839. Winter Nightfall

Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.

Robert Bridges. b. 1844

839. Winter Nightfall

THE day begins to droop,— 
  Its course is done: 
But nothing tells the place 
  Of the setting sun. 
 
The hazy darkness deepens,         5
  And up the lane 
You may hear, but cannot see, 
  The homing wain. 
 
An engine pants and hums 
  In the farm hard by:  10
Its lowering smoke is lost 
  In the lowering sky. 
 
The soaking branches drip, 
  And all night through 
The dropping will not cease  15
  In the avenue. 
 
A tall man there in the house 
  Must keep his chair: 
He knows he will never again 
  Breathe the spring air:  20
 
His heart is worn with work; 
  He is giddy and sick 
If he rise to go as far 
  As the nearest rick: 
 
He thinks of his morn of life,  25
  His hale, strong years; 
And braves as he may the night 
  Of darkness and tears.