THE DAY IS DONE by Henry W. Longfellow

Training-School Pub. Ass'n, Ltd. · Battle Creek, Michigan · May 1900

FromTraining School Advocate, Vol. 2, No. 5.

THE DAY IS DONE.

By Henry W. 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.

Come read to me some poem, Some simple and heart-felt 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 the 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.

— Henry W. Longfellow.