The evening star will twinkle presently. The last small bird is silent, and the bee Has gone into his hive, and the shut flowers Are bending as if sleeping on the stem, And all sweet living things are slumbering In the deep hush of nature's resting time. The faded West looks deep, as if its blue Were searchable, and even as I look, The twilight hath stole over it, and made Its liquid eye apparent, and above To the far-stretching zenith, and around, As if they waited on her like a queen, Have stole out the innumerable stars To twinkle like intelligence in heaven. Is it not beautiful, my fair Adel? Fit for the young affections to come out And bathe in like an element! How well The night is made for tenderness—so still That the low whisper, scarcely audible, Is heard like music, and so deeply pure That the fond thought is chastened as it springs And on the lip made holy. I have won Thy heart, my gentle girl! but it hath been When that soft eye was on me, and the love I told beneath the evening influence Shall be as constant as its gentle star. |