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In The Dark.

By James Whitcomb Riley

Topics: classic

O in the depths of midnight         What fancies haunt the brain!      When even the sigh of the sleeper         Sounds like a sob of pain.      A sense of awe and of wonder         I may never well define, -      For the thoughts that come in the shadows         Never come in the shine.      The old clock down in the parlor         Like a sleepless mourner grieves,      And the seconds drip in the silence         As the rain drips from the eaves.      And I think of the hands that signal         The hours there in the gloom,      And wonder what angel watchers         Wait in the darkened room.      And I think of the smiling faces         That used to watch and wait,      Till the click of the clock was answered         By the click of the opening gate. -      They are not there now in the evening -         Morning or noon - not there;      Yet I know that they keep their vigil,         And wait for me Somewhere.

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"O in the depths of midnight..."

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Author:James Whitcomb Riley

"O in the depths of midnight..." by James Whitcomb Riley

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James Whitcomb Riley

About James Whitcomb Riley

James Whitcomb Riley (1849–1916) was an American poet known as the "Hoosier Poet." His dialect poems—including "Little Orphant Annie" and "When the Frost Is on the Punkin"—celebrate rural Indiana life and childhood nostalgia.

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