I heard the trailing garments of the Night <br /> Sweep through her marble halls! <br />I saw her sable skirts all fringed with light <br /> From the celestial walls! <br /> <br />I felt her presence, by its spell of might, <br /> Stoop o'er me from above; <br />The calm, majestic presence of the Night, <br /> As of the one I love. <br /> <br />I heard the sounds of sorrow and delight, <br /> The manifold, soft chimes, <br />That fill the haunted chambers of the Night <br /> Like some old poet's rhymes. <br /> <br />From the cool cisterns of the midnight air <br /> My spirit drank repose; <br />The fountain of perpetual peace flows there,-- <br /> From those deep cisterns flows. <br /> <br />O holy Night! from thee I learn to bear <br /> What man has borne before! <br />Thou layest thy finger on the lips of Care, <br /> And they complain no more. <br /> <br />Peace! Peace! Orestes-like I breathe this prayer! <br /> Descend with broad-winged flight, <br />The welcome, the thrice-prayed for, the most fair, <br /> The best-beloved Night!<br /><br />Henry Wadsworth Longfellow<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/hymn-to-the-night/
