FEAR NOT THE NIGHT

© 2026 Hector Viveros Lee

FEAR NOT THE NIGHT
by Robert Nathan

 Be not afraid because the sun goes down;
It brings the sunset and the plover’s cry.
Before the colors of the evening drown,
The stars will make new colors in the sky.
Night is no enemy. She passes by,
And shows us silence for our own heart’s good;
For while we sleep, the roses multiply,
The little tree grows taller in the wood.
Fear not the night; the morning follows soon.
Each has his task to make the earth more fair.
I t is by these, by midnight and by noon,
That she grows riper and her orchards bear.
Her fields would wither in a sun too bright;
They need the darkness too. Fear not the night.