Chapter 27
At Night by Eveline Stein Read for LibriVox.org by Larry Wilson Come draw more near, Clasp hands with me, Ah, closer and closer still, The night spreads to infinity, And through my heart's sudden chill I pray loose not your loving hold,
Afear a loneliness untold Smites sharply till mine eyes o'er feel. Nor have I strength nor stress of will To set my spirit free. The cold, the darkness, and the dread Immensity of space, The great wan moon whose ghostly face For ages has been dead, The weird lights wheeling overhead The unknown worlds that onward roll,
In endless wanderings ever led, That find no goal. The spectral mist that overspread With pallid light the lesser stars, The lurid glow that glimmers red Across the front of Mars. O dearest heart, when all is said, I am afraid, And from the whole wide waste of worlds I hide my sight,
And from the boundless night, The ancient mystery of the skies, Where silent depths from pole to pole The void, the vastness, terrifies. O let me rather search your eyes, And with your sweet warm touch Disperse this terror of the universe That strikes into my soul. End of poem.
This recording is in the public domain.
