And the moon springs rapidly up from rest
As a Jack-in-the-box leaps up.
Now falls the shadow and comes the dark,
And the face of the world is hid;
Like the men and the beasts in a Noah's ark
When they slumber beneath its lid.
So softly—slowly—the silence creeps
Over earth and all earthly things,
That it leaves Mankind like a doll that sleeps
With nothing to touch the springs.