“strangers waiting, up and down the boulevard / their shadows searching in the night”

[larryhammer]

For Poetry Monday:


Twilight, Henry Longfellow

The twilight is sad and cloudy,
    The wind blows wild and free,
And like the wings of sea-birds
    Flash the white caps of the sea.

But in the fisherman's cottage
    There shines a ruddier light,
And a little face at the window
    Peers out into the night.

Close, close it is pressed to the window,
    As if those childish eyes
Were looking into the darkness,
    To see some form arise.

And a woman's waving shadow
    Is passing to and fro,
Now rising to the ceiling,
    Now bowing and bending low.

What tale do the roaring ocean,
    And the night-wind, bleak and wild,
As they beat at the crazy casement,
    Tell to that little child?

And why do the roaring ocean,
    And the night-wind, wild and bleak,
As they beat at the heart of the mother,
    Drive the color from her cheek?

---L.

Subject quote from Don't Stop Believin', Journey.

Comments

[cmcmck]

Which is why fishing communities here still leave a light in the window when the fisherfolk are at sea.

[larryhammer]

Egg-zackle.

[thawrecka]

This has such a fun rhythm to it.

[larryhammer]

It does. Rhythm is one of those things that Longfellow did really well.