Nature
Mother Night
From Fifty Years & Other Poems (1917)
Eternities before the first-born day,
Or ere the first sun fledged his wings of flame,
Calm Night, the everlasting and the same,
A brooding mother over chaos lay.
And whirling suns shall blaze and then decay,
Shall run their fiery courses and then claim
The haven of the darkness whence they came;
Back to Nirvanic peace shall grope their way.
So when my feeble sun of life burns out,
And sounded is the hour for my long sleep,
I shall, full weary of the feverish light,
Welcome the darkness without fear or doubt,
And heavy-lidded, I shall softly creep
Into the quiet bosom of the Night.
Cite this poem
MLA
Johnson, James Weldon. “Mother Night.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/johnson_jw/11/.
Chicago
Johnson, James Weldon. “Mother Night.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/johnson_jw/11/.
Read this poem with the Codex →