Page:The city of dreadful night - and other poems (IA cityofdreadfulni00thomrich).pdf/82

 And nimble mice slept, wearied out With such a double night's uproar; But solid beetles crawled about The chilly hearth and naked floor.

And so throughout the twilight hour That vaguely murmurous hush and rest There brooded; and beneath its power Life throbbing held its throbs supprest: Until the thin-voiced mirror sighed, I am all blurred with dust and damp, So long ago the clear day died, So long has gleamed nor fire nor lamp.

Whereon the curtain murmured back, Some change is on us, good or ill; Behind me and before is black As when those human things lie still: But I have seen the darkness grow As grows the daylight every morn; Have felt out there long shine and glow, In here long chilly dusk forlorn.