Montana Night ...

Today's entry is a poem: "Montana Night," by Elliott C. Lincoln, a Montana homesteader. Lincoln arrived in the state in 1908, and homesteaded near Lewistown ... and though he departed for warmer climes in 1917 he remembered Montana fondly, and authored two volumes of poetry about the state. "Montana Night" was published in his 1920 volume, Rhymes of a Homesteader.

Montana Night. The velvet of the sky
Is powdered thick with silver dust. Below,
A realm of half-lights, where black shadows flow
To Stygian lakes, that spread and multiply.
Far to the east the Moccasins rise high
In jagged silhouette. Now, faint and low,
A night bird sounds his call. Soft Breezes blow,
Cool with the dampness of a stream hard by.
Dim, ghostly shapes of cattle grazing near
Drift steadily across the ray of light
From a lone cabin; and I think I hear
The barking of a dog. All things unite
To lull the senses of the eye and ear
In one sweet sense of rest; Montana night.