Park Going to Sleep
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.
This poem is in the public domain.
“Park Going to Sleep” was published in Others magazine (Volume 1, Number 5) in November of 1915.
Helen Hoyt
Helen Hoyt was born in Norwalk, Connecticut in 1887 and received her AB from Barnard College in 1909. She worked as the associate editor of Poetry magazine and authored several poetry collections, including Poems of Amis (R. J. Hoffmann, 1946); The Name of a Rose (Helen Gentry, 1931); Leaves of Wild Grape (Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1929); and Apples Here in My Basket (Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1924).
Hoyt died in Saint Helena, California in 1972.