New York Nocturnes and Other Poems

by Charles G.D. Roberts

 

An Evening Communion

 
The large first stars come out
   Above the open hill,
And in the west the light
   Is lingering still.

The wide and tranquil air
5
   Of evening washes cool
On open hill, and vale,
   And shining pool.

The calm of endless time
   Is in the spacious hour,
10
Whose mystery unfolds
   To perfect flower.

The silence and my heart
   Expect a voice I know,—
A voice we have not heard
15
   Since long ago.

Since long ago thy face,
   Thy smile, I may not see,
True comrade, whom the veil
   Divides from me.
20

But when earth’s hidden word
   I almost understand,
I dream that on my lips
   I feel thy hand.

Thy presence is the light
25
   Upon the open hill.
Thou walkest with me here,
   True comrade still.

My pain and my unrest
   Thou tak’st into thy care.
30
The world becomes a dream,
   And life a prayer.