Page:Poems by Robert Louis Stevenson, Hitherto unpublished, 1921.djvu/47

 A SUMMER NIGHT—1869

While these verses, dated October 25, 1869, have a formal similarity to the March poem of the preceding pages, beginning as they do with a description of Nature and ending on the religious note, they differ essentially, inasmuch as here Stevenson finds in the glow of the sky the symbol of the promise of Heavenly light.

A SUMMER NIGHT

About us lies the summer night;

The darkling earth is dusk below;

But high above, the sky is bright

Between the eve and morning glow.

Clear white of dawn, and apple green,

Sole lingering of the evening's hue,

Behind the clustered trees are seen,

Across dark meadows drencht in dew.

So glow above the dusk of sin,

Remembrance of Redemption vast,

And future hope of joy therein

That shall be shed on us at last.

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