I <br /> <br />A shaded lamp and a waving blind, <br />And the beat of a clock from a distant floor: <br />On this scene enter--winged, horned, and spined - <br />A longlegs, a moth, and a dumbledore; <br />While 'mid my page there idly stands <br />A sleepy fly, that rubs its hands . . . <br /> <br />II <br /> <br />Thus meet we five, in this still place, <br />At this point of time, at this point in space. <br />- My guests parade my new-penned ink, <br />Or bang at the lamp-glass, whirl, and sink. <br />"God's humblest, they!" I muse. Yet why? <br />They know Earth-secrets that know not I.<br /><br />Thomas Hardy<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/an-august-midnight/
