The world is hushed and the shadows fall
Soft from the rosy sky;
A sunflush sweeps the western wall,
And the sweet bird voices die.
Ah, love, the work of the day is done
And the evening hour is sweet;
So now when the dawn and the dark are one,
Ere the pulse of the night's slow feet,
Summon the stars, and the sunlight die
On the laughing lips of day,
Kiss me and come where the low winds sigh
To the sunset far away!
Oh come! We will sail to a magic shore
That our souls have known of old,
In a rainbow skiff from the angels' store,
O'er the cloud-world ocean's gold;
When wavelets, rosily sunset-kissed
Ripple and crisp and curl
Past isles of Heaven's own amethyst,
Afloat on a sea of pearl;
Onward, to anchor hand in hand,
At the cloud-built gate that bars
The golden path to fairyland
That lies beyond the stars.
And there I pray we may wander, sweet,
By the far off mystic sea,
Till the God of the sunset guide our feet
In the way of Eternity.
Herbert Kennedy