Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE RESTLESS NIGHT, by THOMAS MCGRATH


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE RESTLESS NIGHT, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Oh god help me now to cry out and bear witness
Last Line: Hush; the day comes: wherein no man speaks
Subject(s): God; Night; Bedtime


Oh God help me now to cry out and bear witness;
Help me to send forth a great cry at the darkness;
Help me to waken my brother from his dream of rage and fire;
Help me to cry out in defence of my brother.
Hush; do not let a moment's delirium
Negate the decorum of a lifetime of indifference.
If you should cry out there would be nothing to say.
Hush; you would only waken the others.

Oh who among the bright hosts of the heavenly angels
Will call forward my name on a dark day?
Unless I cry forth to point my dark to the light,
To speak for my brother, that day who will call my name?
Hush; do not let the temporary fever
Astound the moment with its population of phantoms.
You do not wish to appear ridiculous.
Hush; there is really nothing you could say.

Oh if I do not rouse him who will awaken my brother
Dozing in this enduring instant of eternal damnation?
Sleepwalking in his immortality which is only lifelong --
Oh Watcher, help me to cry forth to my brother.
Hush; do not let the guilt of a dark hour
Breed the excess of revolutionary sympathy.
Do not trust anguish; it is without function.
Hush; the day comes: wherein no man speaks.


Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA
98368-0271, www.cc.press.org




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