O what an eve was that which ushered in The night that crowned the wish I cherished long!
Heaven’s curtains oped to see the night begin, And infant winds broke lightly into song;
Methought the hours in softly-swelling sound Wailed funeral dirges for the dying light;
I seemed to stand upon a neutral ground Between the confines of the day and night;
For o’er the east Night stretched her sable rod, And ranked her stars in glittering array,
While, in the west, the golden twilight trod With [burning] crimsons on the verge of day.
Bright bars of cloud formed in the glowing even
A Jacob-ladder joining earth and heaven.

Happy the heart that keeps its twilight hour,
And, in the depths of heavenly peace reclined.
Loves to commune with thoughts of tender power;
Thoughts that ascend, like angels beautiful,
A shining Jacob's ladder of the mind.