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Afternoon In February

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The day is ending,
The night is descending;
The marsh is frozen,
  The river dead.

Through clouds like ashes
The red sun flashes
On village windows
  That glimmer red.

The snow recommences;
The buried fences
Mark no longer
  The road o’er the plain;

While through the meadows,
Like fearful shadows,
Slowly passes
  A funeral train.

The bell is pealing,
And every feeling
Within me responds
  To the dismal knell;

Shadows are trailing,
My heart is bewailing
And tolling within
  Like a funeral bell.
Online text © 1998-2008 Poetry X. All rights reserved.
From Required Poems for Reading and Memorizing: Third and Fourth Grades, Prescribed by State Courses of Study | 1920
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