When half the world has wrapped its work and done
And calls it just the terminus of day

[i]I try the steps the others take[/i]
[i]They're half asleep and half awake[/i]

I wait til all is late and I’m alone
To walk the quiet streets of darkened gray.


The clouds now march as veils to pageantry
Of starry scenes the firmament displays.

[i]I somewhat more of life partake[/i]
[i]As stars trail in a silent wake[/i]

They silver every house and ashen tree,
As I, the late sojourner, find my pace.


The road advances that does not turn back,
Where asphalt spreads the silent boxes rise.

[i]Let inner nature feel the break
As hearts fail and asylums shake[/i]

The older orders shrivel into black,
For every house, a burrow dweller dies.


The streetlamp with its bitter yellow light
Takes up my shadow sharply from behind.

[i]A dark trail in a violent shake[/i]
[i]Apart, frail in the eyes opaque [/i]

As I walk on it stretches out of sight
At last, to blur through time far out of mind.