Sonnets by the Night-Sea (VI)

The wind of night is mighty on the deep—

     A presence haunting sea and land again.

     That wind upon the watery waste hath been;

That wind upon the desert soon shall sweep.

O vast and mournful spirit, wherefore keep

     Thy vigil at the fleeting homes of men,

     Who need no voice of thine to tell them when

Is come the hour to labor or to sleep?

 

From waste to waste thou goest, and art dumb

     Before the morning. Patient in her tree

          The bird awaits until thy strength hath passed,

Forgetting darkness when the day is come.

     With other tidings hast thou burdened me,

          Whom desolations harbor at the last.