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Nightfall (Villanelle) by Niphredil

I lie beneath a darkling cedar tree The branches swaying slowly to and fro As weather-worn caresses sigh to me. The gray-cloaked sky is all that I can see, Sketching shadow contours with a pale glow. I lie beneath a darkling cedar tree. And now that it is late and I am free, I cannot bring myself to turn and go Yet weather-worn caresses sigh to me. My thoughts float up from darkness silently And all of time does not suffice; although I lie beneath a darkling cedar tree. The day grows dimmer; daylight turns to flee, And in its wake fall silent wisps of snow As weather-worn caresses sigh to me. No prayers left to say; no ardent plea, Necessity had faded long ago. So soft beneath a snowy cedar tree As weather-worn caresses sigh to me.

zodiac 5-Jan-06/9:44 AM
The most famous use of "darkling" is the line "we are here as on a darkling plain", in Matthew Arnold's Dover Beach. If darkling really only meant "in the dark", you should be able to substitute "in the dark" for darkling in Arnold's poem...

We are here as on a in the dark plain.

CONCLUSIONS: darkling also means "darkish; in the process of darkening".




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