{
 "id": "ameen-rihani/the-house-of-night",
 "title": "The House of Night",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Ameen Rihani",
 "poet_slug": "ameen-rihani",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "A Chant of Mystics and Other Poems",
 "book_slug": "a-chant-of-mystics-and-other-poems",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 9,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1921,
  "venue": "A Chant of Mystics and Other Poems (1921)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/chantofmysticsot00riha"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/ameen-rihani_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Myrtle_and_Myrrh",
   "https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Chant_of_Mystics_and_Other_Poems",
   "https://archive.org/details/myrtlemyrrhpoems00riha",
   "https://archive.org/details/chantofmysticsot00riha"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 56,
  "n_stanzas": 14,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 39,
  "max_indent": 1
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Her sable robes the gloaming trails",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From golden strand to purple height,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And softly, over the wealds and dales,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Into the vacant House of Night.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But lo, where first her footsteps mark",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The sunset’s last extinguished pyre⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Above the hills⁠—a saffron spark,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A gleam of unconjectured fire.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Between the foliaged zone and sky,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Where sentries of the forest stand,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "It peeps and flits⁠—a firefly;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "It soars and glows⁠—a firebrand.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "A sacred flame from hemlock shades,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Rising like a mystic sign",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Above the silence of the glades",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Into the solitudes divine.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "A sign perchance from those who pass",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To those who follow in the gloom,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Dancing round a moulten mass",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Above the grudging gulfs of doom.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "A new-born world, though years untold",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Have fed the forge that gave it breath,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Where Life still casts of beaten gold",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Cressets for the shrine of Death.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "A dying world, though like a gem",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of sapphire hues in nacre bright,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Dropt from the zone or diadem",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of the immortal queen of night.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "A world! From depths to heights as dark",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "It leaps anon into the dance",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And whirls away⁠—’t is but a spark",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From the anvil of the God of Chance,",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But Faith and Fancy often mar",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The mystery of things divine;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For that which is a rolling star",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Was fluttering neath a lonely pine.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And lo, another orb doth roll",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Above the groves where once it trod;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And still another seeks its goal",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In the infinities of God.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "From where the eagle marks his flight,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Across the void that earth-bound seems,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "They twinkle forth, a circle of light,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Around the Gloaming’s couch of dreams.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And thus they first themselves disguise",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As glow worms in the gathering gloom,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And suddenly refulgent rise",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "O’er the abysmal tracks of doom.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "For aeons thus, from hill to sea,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Athwart the grudging gulfs they glow;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And waning tell of the worlds that be",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the ghosts of worlds of long ago.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "For aeons thus, their torches high,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The gods unseen⁠—as when the light",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Of day conceals the starry sky⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Illuminate the House of Night.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}