Waif -Longfellow

The day is done, and the darkness
	Falls from the wings of Night,
	As a feather is wafted downward
	From an eagle in his flight.
	I see the lights of the village
	Gleam through the rain and the mist,
	And a feeling of sadness comes o’er me,
	That my soul cannot resist:
	A feeling of sadness and longing,
	That is not akin to pain,
	And resembles sorrow only
	As the mist resembles the rain.
	Come, read to me some poem,
	Some simple and heartfelt lay,
	That shall soothe this restless feeling,
	And banish the thoughts of day.
	Not from the grand old masters,
	Not from the bards sublime,
	Whose distant footsteps echo
	Through the corridors of Time.
	For, like strains of martial music,
	Their mighty thoughts suggest
	Life’s endless toil and endeavor;
	And to-night I long for rest.
	Read from some humbler poet,
	Whose songs gushed from his heart,
	As showers from the clouds of summer,
	Or tears from the eyelids start;
	Who, through long days of labor,
	And nights devoid of ease,
	Still heard in his soul the music
	Of wonderful melodies.
	Such songs have power to quiet
	The restless pulse of care,
	And come like the benediction
	That follows after prayer.
	Then read from the treasured volume
	The poem of thy choice,
	And lend to the rhyme of the poet
	The beauty of thy voice.
	And the night shall be filled with music,
	And the cares, that infest the day,
	Shall fold their tents, like the Arabs,
	And as silently steal away.