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Ode to the Setting Sun (A Valediction)
A velvet light diffuses daytime’s flux;
its tranquil, reddening hue speaks softer tones.
Then salving eve the fevered burden plucks
from wearied shoulders and exhausted bones.
The balmy shade defuses life’s concerns,
its kindly cloak a soothing lullaby.
And so the lively enterprise adjourns
to let the restless day now close its eye.
But that is not the end of starlight’s spell.
For soon a gentle glint appears on high—
a jewel that is not, and at once is.
Then countless more join heaven’s carousel
as distant suns prick through the nightly sky:
a constellation of remembrances.
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