Only, when evening purples the light in Malyn's dale,

With sound of brooks and robins, by many a hidden trail,

With stir of lulling rivers along the forest floor,

The dream-folk of the gloaming come back to Malyn's door.

The dusk is long and gracious, and far up in the sky

You hear the chimney-swallows twitter and scurry by.

The hyacinths are lonesome and white in Malyn's room;

And out at sea the Snowflake is driving through the gloom.

The whitecaps froth and freshen; in squadrons of white surge