Voluntary by Robert Louis Stevenson — Read

HERE in the quiet eve / My thankful eyes receive / The quiet light.

I see the trees stand fair / Against the faded air, / And star by star prepare / The perfect night.

And in my bosom, lo! / Content and quiet grow / Toward perfect peace.

And now when day is done, / Brief day of wind and sun, / The pure stars, one by one, / Their troop increase.

Keen pleasure and keen grief / Give place to great relief: / Farewell my tears! / Still sounds toward me float; / I hear the bird's small note, / Sheep from the far sheepcote, / And lowing steers.

For lo! the war is done, / Lo, now the battle won, / The trumpets still.

The shepherd's slender strain, / The country sounds again / Awake in wood and plain, / On haugh and hill.

Loud wars and loud loves cease.

I welcome my release; / And hail once more / Free foot and way world-wide.

And oft at eventide / Light love to talk beside / The hostel door.