NOCTURNE
by: Eugene O'Neill (1888-1953)
- HE sunset
gun booms out in hollow roar
- Night breathes upon the waters of the bay
- The river lies, a symphony in grey,
- Melting in shadow on the further shore.
-
- A sullen coal barge tugs its anchor chain
- A shadow sinister, with one faint light
- Flickering wanly in the dim twilight,
- It lies upon the harbor like a stain.
-
- Silence. Then through the stillness rings
- The fretful echo of a seagull's scream,
- As if one cried who sees within a dream
- Deep rooted sorrow in the heart of things.
-
- The cry that Sorrow knows and would complain
- And impotently struggle to express --
- Some secret shame, some hidden bitterness --
- Yet evermore must sing the same refrain.
-
- Silence once more. The air seems in a swoon
- Beneath the heavens' thousand opening eyes
- While from the far horizon's edge arise
- The first faint silvery tresses of the moon.
"Nocturne" is reprinted
from the New London Telegraph, 13 September, 1912. |
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