WeRead Powered by ReaderPub
Plantation echoes cover

Plantation echoes

Chapter 26: SOFT FALLS THE NIGHT.
By Elliott Blaine Henderson
Open in WeRead

Explore more books like this:

Poetry

About This Book

A short collection of poems written in a period phonetic dialect that evokes rural plantation life and folk-song rhythms. The pieces range from playful and humorous to plaintive and reflective, depicting work, home, music, seasonal change, and communal gatherings through repetition, colloquial idiom, and musical cadence. Many poems adopt a performative voice and narrative vignette form to capture local speech and sentiment. Several passages employ slang and stereotyped language rooted in their historical moment, which modern readers may find offensive.

SOFT FALLS THE NIGHT.

This Poem is dedicated to Miss Anna Hall Smith.

Soft falls the night—
And chases ’way
The slowly dying
Summer day.
The sun from his
Ethereal height,
Is curtained by
The shades of night.
Soft falls the night—
The birds that tune
Their song with nature
In commune
Now hush their lays
Seek silent rest,
Within their downy
Leafy nests.
Soft falls the night—
Sweet peace divine
In each heart comes
To be enshrined,
While angels pause
On earth to show’r
The blessings of
The sovereign pow’r.
Soft falls the night—
A peaceful sleep
O’er earthly mortals
Doth now creep.
They rest now from
Their day’s pursuit—
The world is still,
The world is mute.
Soft falls the night—
The verdure green
Now glistens with
A dewy sheen.
The flowers droop,
Their petals close,
They dream away
In sweet repose.
Soft fades the night—
Lo! breaks the dawn,
And nature ’wakens
With the morn,
Exultingly
Sends up her lays,
Her symphonies,
To God in praise.