THE SHADOW

Silence comes upon the night,

Gone is all the cheerful day,

The moon has disappeared from sight,

Every star has gone away.

Sinking through the void, and thence

Disappearing, star and sky,

In the stern and black immense

That has blinded every eye.

Silence crouches on the land,

In the street a shadow lies

Cloaked in velvet wrappings, and

With a mask upon her eyes.

Anonymous and terrible

Mother of the primal ray,

Only night because thou art

In thyself excess of day.