- MIDNIGHT
by: Harriet Beecher Stowe
(1811-1896)
- LL dark! -- no light, no ray!
- Sun, moon, and stars, all gone!
- Dimness of anguish! -- utter void! --
- Crushed, and alone!
-
- One waste of weary pain,
- One dull, unmeaning ache,
- A heart too weary even to throb,
- Too bruised to break.
-
- No longer anxious thoughts,
- No longer hopes and fears,
- No strife, no effort, no desire,
- No tears.
-
- Daylight and leaves and flowers,
- Summer and song of bird! --
- All vanished! -- dreams forever gone,
- Unseen, unheard!
-
- Love, beauty, youth, -- all gone!
- The high, heroic vow,
- The buoyant hope, the fond desire,--
- All ashes now!
-
- The words they speak to me
- Far off and distant seem,
- As voices we have known and loved
- Speak in a dream.
-
- They bid me to submit;
- I do, -- I cannot strive;
- I do not question, -- I endure,
- Endure and live.
-
- I do not struggle more,
- Nor pray, for prayer is vain;
- I but lie still the weary hour,
- And bear my pain.
-
- A guiding God, a Friend,
- A Father's gracious cheer,
- Once seemed my own; but now even faith
- Lies buried here.
-
- This darkened, deathly life
- Is all remains of me,
- And but one conscious wish, --
- To cease to be!
"Midnight" is reprinted
from Religious Poems. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Boston: Ticknor
and Fields, 1867. |
MORE POEMS BY HARRIET BEECHER STOWE |
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