[00:13.72]Night has fallen over the country. Through the trees rises the red moon,
[00:18.72]and the stars are scarcely seen. In the vast shadow of night the coolness and the dews descend.
[00:26.63]I sit at the open window to enjoy them; and hear only the voice of the summer wind. Like black hulks,
[00:34.28]the shadows of the great trees ride at anchor on the billowy sea of grass.
[00:40.03]I cannot see the red and blue flowers, but I know that they are there.
[00:47.33]Far away in the meadow gleams the silver Charles. The tramp of horses’ hoofs sounds from the wooden bridge.
[00:55.86]Then all is still save the continuous wind of the summer night.
[01:00.74]Sometimes I know not if it be the wind or the sound of the neighboring sea.
[01:06.38]The village clock strikes; and I feel that I am not alone.
[01:11.62]How different it is in the city! It is late, and the crowd is gone.
[01:17.96]You step out upon the balcony, and lie in the very bosom of the cool,
[01:22.09]dewy night as if you folded her garments about you. Beneath lies the public walk with trees,
[01:29.95]like a fathomless, black gulf, into whose silent darkness the spirit plunges,
[01:35.57]and floats away with some beloved spirit clasped in its embrace.
[01:40.79]The lamps are still burning up and down the long street. People go by with grotesque shadows,
[01:47.91]now foreshortened, and now lengthening away into the darkness and vanishing,
[01:53.28]while a new one springs up behind the walker, and seems to pass him revolving like the sail of a windmill.
[02:01.37]The iron gates of the park shut with a jangling clang. There are footsteps and loud voices; - a tumult;
[02:09.10]- a drunken brawl; - an alarm of fire; - then silence again. And now at length the city is asleep,
[02:17.63]and we can see the night. The belated moon looks over the rooftops and finds no one to welcome her.
[02:25.65]The moonlight is broken. It lies here and there in the squares, and the opening of the streets
[02:32.56]- angular like blocks of white marble.
