An Evening In October

Evening has thrown her hushing garment round     This little world; no harsh or jarring sound     Disturbs my reverie. The room is dark,     And kneeling at the window I can mark     Each light and shadow of the scene below.     The placid glistening pools, the streams that flow     Through the red earth, left by the hurrying tide;     The ridge of mountain on the farther side     Shewing more black for many twinkling lights     That come and go about the gathering heights.     Below me lie great wharves, dreary and dim,     And lumber houses crowding close and grim     Like giant shadowed guardians of the port,     With towering chimneys outlined tall and swart     Against the silver pools. Two figures pace     The wharf in ghostly silence, face from face.     O'er the black line of mountain, silver-clear     In faint rose-tint of vaporous evening air,     Sinketh the bright suspicion of a wing,     The slim curved moon, who in shy triumphing     Hideth her face. Above, the rose-tint pales     Into a silver opal, hills and dales     Of cloudy glory, fading high alone     Into a tender blue-grey monotone. -     And then I thought: "ere that fair, slender moon     Has rounded grown and full, (so soon, so soon!)     Our hearts' desire accomplished we shall see     Dear one, all light, and joy, and ecstasy!"