Hymn to the Night II
Must the morning always return? Will the despotism of the earthly nevercease? Unholy activity consumes the angel-visit of the Night. Will thetime never come when Love’s hidden sacrifice shall burn eternally? To theLight a season was set; but everlasting and boundless is the dominion ofthe Night. Endless is the duration of sleep. Holy Sleep, gladden not tooseldom in this earthly day-labour, the devoted servant of the Night. Foolsalone mistake thee, knowing nought of sleep but the shadow which, in thegloaming of the real night, thou pitifully castest over us. They feel theenot in the golden flood of the grapes, in the magic oil of the almondtree, and the brown juice of the poppy. They know not that it is thou whohauntest the bosom of the tender maiden, and makest a heaven of her lap;never suspect it is thou, the portress of heaven, that steppest to meetthem out of ancient stories, bearing the key to the dwellings of theblessed, silent messenger of secrets infinite.
Words in this poem
- unholy a.
- Not holy; unhallowed; not consecrated; hence, profane; wicked; impious.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- eternally adv.
- In an eternal manner.
- gladden v. t.
- To make glad; to cheer; to please; to gratify; to rejoice; to exhilarate. [See Glad, v. t.]
- gloaming n.
- Twilight; dusk; the fall of the evening. [Scot. & North of Eng., and in poetry.] Hogg. [See Gloom.]
- portress n.
- A female porter.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Hymn to the Night II is in the public domain. This text is taken from Rampolli: Growths from a Long-Planted Root (Hymns to the Night only), Project Gutenberg ebook #8949, the George MacDonald translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Novalis, Hymn to the Night II, in Hymns to the Night (1897), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8949, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/novalis-hymns-to-the-night/hymn-2.html, id L27967.
About this section
Hymn to the Night II is prose, printed in 1 paragraph. It is part of the edition and is kept for reading, but nothing here is measured: the line breaks are the printer's, so no metre, rhyme scheme or scansion is stated.
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