Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.
William Ernest Henley. 18491903843. Margaritæ Sorori
A LATE lark twitters from the quiet skies: | |
And from the west, | |
Where the sun, his day’s work ended, | |
Lingers as in content, | |
There falls on the old, gray city | 5 |
An influence luminous and serene, | |
A shining peace. | |
The smoke ascends | |
In a rosy-and-golden haze. The spires | |
Shine and are changed. In the valley | 10 |
Shadows rise. The lark sings on. The sun, | |
Closing his benediction, | |
Sinks, and the darkening air | |
Thrills with a sense of the triumphing night— | |
Night with her train of stars | 15 |
And her great gift of sleep. | |
So be my passing! | |
My task accomplish’d and the long day done, | |
My wages taken, and in my heart | |
Some late lark singing, | 20 |
Let me be gather’d to the quiet west, | |
The sundown splendid and serene, | |
Death. |