#MIDDLEBURY
Park Going to Sleep
Helen Hoyt
The shadows under the trees
And in the vines by the boat-house
Grow dark,
And the lamps gleam softly.
On the street, far off,
The sound of the cars, rumbling,
Moves drowsily.
The rocks grow dim on the edges of the shore.
The boats with tired prows against the landing
Have fallen asleep heavily:
The monuments sleep
And the trees
And the smooth slow-winding empty paths sleep.
About this poem
“Park Going to Sleep” was published in Others magazine (Vol. 1, No. 5) in November of 1915.
About Helen Hoyt
Helen Hoyt was born in Norwalk, Conn., in 1887. She was the author of “Apples Here in My Basket” (Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1924), “The Name of a Rose” (Helen Gentry, 1931) and “Poems of Amis” (R. J. Hoffmann, 1946). She died in St. Helena, Calif., in 1972.
The Academy of American Poets is a nonprofit, mission-driven organization, whose aim is to make poetry available to a wider audience. Email The Academy at poem-a-day@poets.org.
This poem is in the public domain. Originally published in Poem-a-Day, www.poets.org. Distributed by King Features Syndicate.
