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At Night

At night the Universe grows lean, sober-
faced, of intoxication,
The shadow of the half-sphere curtains
down closely against my world, like a 
doorless cage, and the stillness chained by
wrinkled darkness strains throughout the Uni-
verse to be free. 
Listen, frogs in the pond, (the world is a pond itself)
     cry out for the light, for the truth!
The curtains rattle ghostlily along, bloodily biting
     my soul, the winds knocking on my cabin door
     with their shadowy hands.
Credit: 

This poem is in the public domain.

Author: 

Yone Noguchi

Yone Noguchi

Yone Noguchi, the first Japanese-born writer to publish poetry in English, was born in 1875 in Tsushima.

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Date Published: 
1920

Source URL: https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/night-2