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To Night
by Joseph Blanco White
This poem was written by a sonnetier who was a Unitarian in the early 1800's. It begins with the twilight of the first day of man.


To Night
    MYSTERIOUS Night! when our first parent knew
    Thee from report divine, and heard thy name,
    Did he not tremble for this lovely frame,
    This glorious canopy of light and blue?
    Yet 'neath a curtain of translucent dew,
    Bathed in the rays of the great setting flame,
    Hesperus with the host of heaven came,
    And lo! Creation widened in man's view.
    Who could have thought such darkness lay concealed
    Within thy beams, O Sun, or who could find,
    Whilst fly and leaf and insect stood revealed,
    That to such countless orbs thou mad'st us blind!
    Why do we then shun death with anxious strife?
    If Light can thus deceive, wherefore not Life?
       


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