Harvard Professor and

 

IHEARD the trailing garments
of the Night
Sweep through her marble halls!
I saw her sable skirts all fringed
with light
From the celestial walls!

I felt her presence, by its spell of might,
Stoop o’er me from above;
The calm, majestic presence of the Night,
As the one I love.

From the cool cisterns of the midnight air
My spirit drank repose;
The fountain of perpetual peace flows here,-From those deep cisterns flows.

O Holy Night! from thee I learn to bear
What man has borne before!
Thou layest thy finger on the lips of Care,
And they complain no more.

Peace! Peace! I breathe this prayer!
Descend with broad-winged flight,
The welcome, the thrice-prayed for, the
most fair,
The best-loved Night!

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