A September Night

The full September moon sheds floods of light,

And all the bayou’s face is gemmed with stars,

Save where are dropped fantastic shadows down

From sycamores and moss-hung cypress trees.

With slumberous sound the waters half asleep

Creep on and on their way, ’twixt rankish reeds,

Through marsh and lowlands stretching to the Gulf. 

Begirt with cotton fields, Anguilla sits

Half bird-like, dreaming on her Summer nest.

Amid her spreading figs and roses, still

In bloom with all their Spring and Summer hues,

Pomegranates hang with dapple cheeks full ripe,

And over all the town a dreamy haze

Drops down. The great plantations, stretching far

Away, are plains of cotton, downy white. 

O, glorious is this night of joyous sounds;

Too full for sleep. Aromas wild and sweet,

From muscadine, late blooming jessamine,

And roses, all the heavy air suffuse.

Faint bellows from the alligators come

From swamps afar, where sluggish lagoons give

To them a peaceful home. The katydids

Make ceaseless cries. Ten thousand insects’ wings

Stir in the moonlight haze and joyous shouts

Of Negro song and mirth awake hard by

The cabin dance. O, glorious is this night!

The Summer sweetness fills my heart with songs

I cannot sing, with loves I cannot speak.