Parliament Hill in the Evening

THE houses fade in a melt of mist
       Blotching the thick, soiled air
     With reddish places that still resist
       The Night’s slow care.

The hopeless, wintry twilight fades,
The city corrodes out of sight
As the body corrodes when death invades
That citadel of delight.

Now verdigris smoulderings softly spread
Through the shroud of the town, as slow
Night-lights hither and thither shed
Their ghastly glow.