O Shadow in a sultry land,

We gather to thy breast,

Whose love, unfolding like the night,

Brings quietude and rest,

Glimpse of the fairer life to be,

In foretaste here possessed;

2 From aimless wanderings we come,

From drifting to and fro;

The wave of being mingles deep,

Amid its ebb and flow;

The grander sweep of tides serene

Our spirits yearn to know!

3 That which the garish day had lost,

The twilight vigil brings,

While softlier the vesper bell

Its silver cadence rings,—

The sense of an immortal trust,

The brush of angel wings!

4 Drop down behind the solemn hills,

O Day, with golden skies!

Serene above its fading glow,

Night, starry-crowned, arise!

So beautiful may heaven be,

When life’s last sunbeam dies!