Sunset

SLOWLY on all attainment or defeat
The day dies out far in the darkening west :
Leaving the earth, its golden stage complete,
To muse an hour away, then sink to rest ;
Dark earth, — the heavens yet touched with sunset glow;
Brightness above, and hushed, submissive calm below.

Hushed is the world of toil. In every place
A wealth of healing silentness doth lie,
Or sounds more still than silence fill the space
Beneath that far infinity of sky ;
And softly shines the evening star on one
Whose day lies spent, a chronicle of things undone.

Even regret, in this calm air and mild,
Bears little of its wonted anguish deep :
One long-drawn breath of sorrow, as the child
Preludes a sad, sweet sinking into sleep,
Then peace. Night registers defeat again ;
But what was I, that I should struggle and attain ?