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Robert Louis Stevenson: Collected Poems

Edited, with an introduction and notes, by Janet Adam Smith

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95

XXXVII

[I saw red evening through the rain]

I saw red evening through the rain,
Lower above the steaming plain;
I heard the hour strike small and still,
From the black belfry on the hill.
Thought is driven out of doors to-night
By bitter memory of delight;
The sharp constraint of finger tips,
Or the shuddering touch of lips.
I heard the hour strike small and still,
From the black belfry on the hill.
Behind me I could still look down
On the outspread monstrous town.
The sharp constraint of finger tips
Or the shuddering touch of lips,
And all old memories of delight
Crowd upon my soul to-night.
Behind me I could still look down
On the outspread feverish town;
But before me still and grey
And lonely was the forward way.