530. Between the Sunken Sun and the New Moon by Paul Hamilton Hayne. Stedman, Edmund Clarence, ed. 1900. An American Anthology, 1787-1900

Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

530. Between the Sunken Sun and the New Moon

By Paul Hamilton Hayne


BETWEEN the sunken sun and the new moon,
I stood in fields through which a rivulet ran
With scarce perceptible motion, not a span
Of its smooth surface trembling to the tune
Of sunset breezes: “O delicious boon,”	5
I cried, “of quiet! wise is Nature’s plan,
Who, in her realm, as in the soul of man,
Alternates storm with calm, and the loud noon
With dewy evening’s soft and sacred lull:
Happy the heart that keeps its twilight hour,	10
And, in the depths of heavenly peace reclined,
Loves to commune with thoughts of tender power;
Thoughts that ascend, like angels beautiful,
A shining Jacob’s ladder of the mind.”