Emily

I recently saw the film Emily, a passionate, imaginative and sometimes disturbing portrayal of Emily Brontë’s life leading up to writing her novel Wuthering Heights. While this is a creative telling and not simply a biopic, I loved how it delved into the process of writing as much as the relationships that shaped and inspired her life and work. Woven into the story was one of Emily’s poems, The Night Wind. While only fragments featured, I wanted to share the entire poem here for its poignant beauty.

The Night Wind
Emily Brontë

In summer's mellow midnight,
A cloudless moon shone through
Our open parlour window,
And rose-trees wet with dew.

I sat in silent musing;
The soft wind waved my hair;
It told me heaven was glorious,
And sleeping earth was fair.

I needed not its breathing
To bring such thoughts to me;
But still it whispered lowly,
How dark the woods will be!

"The thick leaves in my murmur
Are rustling like a dream,
And all their myriad voices
Instinct with spirit seem."

I said, "Go, gentle singer,
Thy wooing voice is kind:
But do not think its music
Has power to reach my mind.

"Play with the scented flower,
The young tree's supple bough,
And leave my human feelings
In their own course to flow."

The wanderer would not heed me;
Its kiss grew warmer still.
"O come!" it sighed so sweetly;
"I'll win thee 'gainst thy will.

"Were we not friends from childhood?
Have I not loved thee long?
As long as thou, the solemn night,
Whose silence wakes my song.

"And when thy heart is resting
Beneath the church-aisle stone,
I shall have time for mourning,
And THOU for being alone."