Poems by Themis

Secret of the Night

I asked for darkness; thought me wise and strong,

And fit in faith to meet its heaviness;

It came, unstarred and mute, lest I transgress

To love it only for its stars, its song; -

So set me free of sin, inconscient wrong,

To leave me in my lonely, pained distress;

My crumbled impudence to break and bless,

And distribute as bread to the world's throng:

And I, left limp, then saw it face to face,

In silent purity against my wound

With healing touch; and suddenly I knew

The secret of the nights that pass unmooned,

The winter-hunger, blindness, choked disgrace,

Knew all my dark, my sorrow is but You.

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