Versedays: An Hymn to the Evening by Phillis Wheatley

Image Credit: Birdy

Ah I feel all nice and refreshed after a week long break in Indonesia, spent clambering up volcanoes, watching sunrises and trekking miles! But the born wanderer that I am, I am already thinking of where to go next. I had taken one book with me on the trip, Ann Rinaldi's "Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons: The Story of Phillis Wheatley," which I just finished reading. It is about the first African American poet Phillis Wheatley and was quite an interesting read. Review coming soon but meanwhile I thought in honor of this courageous woman, this week's Versedays must feature a poem by her. So here goes...

An Hymn to the Evening

by

Phillis Wheatley


Soon as the sun forsook the eastern main
The pealing thunder shook the heav'nly plain;
Majestic grandeur! From the zephyr's wing,
Exhales the incense of the blooming spring.
Soft purl the streams, the birds renew their notes,
And through the air their mingled music floats.

Through all the heav'ns what beauteous dies are spread!
But the west glories in the deepest red:
So may our breasts with ev'ry virtue glow,
The living temples of our God below!

Fill'd with the praise of him who gives the light,
And draws the sable curtains of the night,
Let placid slumbers sooth each weary mind,
At morn to wake more heav'nly, more refin'd;
So shall the labours of the day begin
More pure, more guarded from the snares of sin.

Night's leaden sceptre seals my drowsy eyes,
Then cease, my song, till fair Aurora rise.