England and Yesterday

<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</SPAN></span></p> <h2>VI.<br/><small>THE LIGHTS OF LONDON.</small></h2> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="verse">The evenfall, so slow on hills, hath shot</div> <div class="verse">Far down into the valley’s cold extreme,</div> <div class="verse">Untimely midnight; spire and roof and stream</div> <div class="verse">Like fleeing spectres, shudder and are not.</div> <div class="verse">The Hampstead hollies, from their sylvan plot</div> <div class="verse">Yet cloudless, lean to watch, as in a dream,</div> <div class="verse">From chaos climb, with many a hasty gleam,</div> <div class="verse">London, one moment fallen and forgot.</div> <div class="verse">Her booths begin to flare; her gases bright</div> <div class="verse">Prick door and window; street and lane obscure</div> <div class="verse">Sparkle and swarm with nothing true nor sure,</div> <div class="verse">Full as a marsh of mist and winking light:</div> <div class="verse">Heaven thickens over, heaven that cannot cure</div> <div class="verse">Her tear by day, her fevered smile by night.</div> </div></div> <hr> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />