NOVEMBER BLUE

  The golden tint of the electric lights seems to give a
  complementary colour to the air in the early evening.—
  ESSAY ON LONDON

            O HEAVENLY colour, London town
                Has blurred it from her skies;
            And, hooded in an earthly brown,
                Unheaven’d the city lies.
            No longer, standard-like, this hue
                Above the broad road flies;
            Nor does the narrow street the blue
                Wear, slender pennon-wise.

            But when the gold and silver lamps
                Colour the London dew,
            And, misted by the winter damps,
                The shops shine bright anew—
            Blue comes to earth, it walks the street,
                It dyes the wide air through;
            A mimic sky about their feet,
                The throng go crowned with blue.