A White Night

Arthur Symons

1865 to 1945

Poem Image

The yellow moon across the clouds
     That shiver in the sky;
White, hurrying travellers, the clouds,
     And, white and aching cold on high,
     Stars in the sky.

Whiter, along the frozen earth,
     The miracle of snow;
Close covered as for sleep, the earth
     Lies, mutely slumbering below
     Its shroud of snow.

Sleepless I wander in the night,
     And, wandering, watch for day;
Earth sleeps, yet, high in heaven, the night
     Awakens, faint and far away,
     A phantom day.