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SONNET XII Written on the evening of the Coronation Day of King Edward the Seventh.
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244

SONNET XII
Written on the evening of the Coronation Day of King Edward the Seventh.

Aug. 9, 1902.
The great day closes, full of sound and light
And prayerful murmurs, and superb display.
Gently the sunlit moments steal away
Into the magic moments of the night.
All London flames, immeasurably bright
With mimic stars in colourful array,
While overhead the summer heavens are gay
With nobler stars, millions in flow and flight.
London, old London, city of love and crime,
Grim with the sins and passions of the past,
For just one moment, starry-browed, sublime
Shines out, and seems divinely fair to be,
Grand with supreme desire, a yearning vast
As boundless heavens that meet a boundless sea.
 

I am afraid this must be taken in a somewhat metaphorical sense The day, however, was not wholly sunless.