The Poetical Works of James Thomson The City of Dreadful Night: By James Thomson ("B. V."): Edited by Bertram Dobell: With a Memoir of the Author: In two volumes |
 | I. |
 | II. |
|
|
|
|
A WINTER'S NIGHT |
 | The Poetical Works of James Thomson |  |
412
A WINTER'S NIGHT
I
O mournful, mournful wind!Sobbing and moaning over moor and height;
Fleeing the dawn, and plunging anguish-blind
Deeper and deeper into doleful night.
II
O Moon, so faint and wan!Sinking away from gloomy cloud to cloud,
Whence sleet and snow are shaken; and the dawn
Shall find the earth laid out in one blank shroud.
III
The noontide breeze may blowWith lifeful pleasure o'er the throngs of men,
Freed from their darkest lusts and bitterest woe,
Earning the bread of healthful labours then.
413
IV
Throned in eternal dayThe Sun may smile—all joy when joys the King;
Diffusing light and life and wealth for aye,
How should he dream to pity anything?
V
But thou—pale Priestess born!Driven for ever through the shoreless sea
Of spectral night; thy pure heart pierced and torn
With sight of our worst sin and misery:
VI
And thou—O homeless wind!Flung forth wild-moaning through night's wilderness,
Burdened with all worst agonies of our kind,
To sink far off beneath the fatal stress:
VII
Well may you sob and cry,Breathing this night our voice of guilt and pain!
Well may you gaze down sadly, O wan Eye,
To which our wretched lives this night are plain!
1858.
| The Poetical Works of James Thomson | |