LitFlash: 'A Hymn to the Evening'
We start 2024's newsletters off with a poem by Phyllis Wheatley celebrating a sometimes solemn yet also magical time of day
Soon as the sun forsook the eastern main The pealing thunder shook the heav'nly plain; Majestic grandeur! From the zephyr's wing, Exhales the incense of the blooming spring. Soft purl the streams, the birds renew their notes, And through the air their mingled music floats. Through all the heav'ns what beauteous dies are spread! But the west glories in the deepest red: So may our breasts with ev'ry virtue glow, The living temples of our God below! Fill'd with the praise of him who gives the light, And draws the sable curtains of the night, Let placid slumbers sooth each weary mind, At morn to wake more heav'nly, more refin'd; So shall the labours of the day begin More pure, more guarded from the snares of sin. Night's leaden sceptre seals my drowsy eyes, Then cease, my song, till fair Aurora rise.
About the Author
Phyllis Wheatley (1753-84) died young, at the age of 31, but managed in her short life to be a pioneer. An enslaved person from the age of seven or eight, she learned to read and write, began to compose poems, and became the first African-American writer to publish a collection of poetry. She was freed shortly after her poems appeared.
You can read our earlier newsletter on Wheatley’s writing here.
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