The poem Nocturne by Eugene O Neill The 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.
When you are old and grey and full of sleep, And nodding by the fire, take down this book, And slowly read, and dream of the soft look Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
How many loved your moments of glad grace, And loved your beauty with love false or true, But one man loved the pilgrim Soul in you, And loved the sorrows of your changing face;
And bending down beside the glowing bars, Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled And paced upon the mountains overhead And hid his face amid a crowd of stars. |