Sonnets by the Night-Sea (VI)

The wind of night is mighty on the deep— A presence haunting sea and land again. That wind upon the watery waste hath been; That wind upon the desert soon shall sweep. O vast and mournful spirit, wherefore keep Thy vigil at the fleeting homes of men, Who need no voice of thine to tell them when Is come the hour to labor or to sleep? From waste to waste thou goest, and art dumb Before the morning. Patient in her tree The bird awaits until thy strength hath passed, Forgetting darkness when the day is come. With other tidings hast thou burdened me, Whom desolations harbor at the last.