Last Night--And This

Last night--how deep the darkness was!
And well I knew its depths, because
I waded it from shore to shore,
Thinking to reach the light no more.

She would not even touch my hand.--
The winds rose and the cedars fanned
The moon out, and the stars fled back
In heaven and hid--and all was black!

But ah! To-night a summons came,
Signed with a teardrop for a name,--
For as I wondering kissed it, lo,
A line beneath it told me so.

And now--the moon hangs over me
A disk of dazzling brilliancy,
And every star-tip stabs my sight
With splintered glitterings of light!