In The Dark

<SPAN name="startofbook"></SPAN> <h4 id="id00491" style="margin-top: 2em">IN THE DARK</h4> <p id="id00492">O In the depths of midnight<br/> What fancies haunt the brain!<br/> When even the sigh of the sleeper<br/> Sounds like a sob of pain.<br/></p> <p id="id00493">A sense of awe and of wonder<br/> I may never well define,—<br/> For the thoughts that come in the shadows<br/> Never come in the shine.<br/></p> <p id="id00494">The old clock down in the parlor<br/> Like a sleepless mourner grieves,<br/> And the seconds drip in the silence<br/> As the rain drips from the eaves.<br/></p> <p id="id00495">And I think of the hands that signal<br/> The hours there in the gloom,<br/> And wonder what angel watchers<br/> Wait in the darkened room.<br/></p> <p id="id00496">And I think of the smiling faces<br/> That used to watch and wait,<br/> Till the click of the clock was answered<br/> By the click of the opening gate.—<br/></p> <p id="id00497">They are not there now in the evening—<br/> Morning or noon—not there;<br/> Yet I know that they keep their vigil,<br/> And wait for me Somewhere.<br/></p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />