Arabian Night

(The crow, after many adventures, returns to the Ark on Ararat.)

I should know this place, these women talking here
Between a dinner and the common goodnight,
Know their stories of the past: sorrows,
Children, the (lead; the same domestic tales, yes!
Sisters, mother, aunt, in the glowing room,
Around the white table—just as it was!
O genies of familiar memory, who,
Convened, becalmed, by nearness and the night,
Rub from a little boy’s fierce pride or impudence,
Or cousin’s guile, or uncles’ merriment
—So innocent, so unredeemed!—
A steady, timid spell against the night.