Acquainted with the night

 By POET LAUREATE

Robert Frost :

from 

Robert Frost's Poems - 

St. Martin's Paperbacks (2002)

I have been one acquainted with the night.

I have walked out in rain -- and back in rain.

I have out walked the furthest city light.

I have looked down the saddest city lane.

I have passed by the watchman on his beat

and dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.

I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet

When far away an interrupted cry

Came over houses from another street,

But not to call me back or say good-bye;

And further still at an unearthly height,

One luminary clock against the sky

Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.

I have been one acquainted with the night.