Page:Trees Kilmer.djvu/19

TREES AND OTHER POEMS THE TWELVE-FORTY-FIVE

ITHIN the Jersey City shed

The engine coughs and shakes its head.

The smoke, a plume of red and white,

Waves madly in the face of night.

And now the grave incurious stars

Gleam on the groaning hurrying cars.

Against the kind and awful reign

Of darkness, this our angry train,

A noisy little rebel, pouts

Its brief defiance, flames and shouts—

And passes on, and leaves no trace.

For darkness holds its ancient place,

Serene and absolute, the king

Unchanged, of every living thing.

The houses lie obscure and still

In Rutherford and Carlton Hill.

Our lamps intensify the dark

Of slumbering Passaic Park.

And quiet holds the weary feet [ 13 ]