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A continuing selection of classic and contemporary poems.

The Last Defeat

E. (Edith) Nesbit

Across the field of day
In sudden blazon lay
The pallid bar of gold
Borne on the shield of day.
Night had endured so long,
And now the Day grew strong
With lance of light to hold
The Night at bay.

So on my life’s dull night
The splendour of your light
Traversed the dusky shield
And shone forth golden bright.
Your colours I have worn
Through all the fight forlorn,
And these, with life, I yield,
To-night, to Night.
Online text © 1998-2008 Poetry X. All rights reserved.
From Many Voices | Hutchinson and Co., 1922
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