Poem 11 (Pandemic Day 28)

Acquainted with the night

I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain—and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.

I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.

I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street,

But not to call me back or say good-bye;
And further still at an unearthly height,
One luminary clock against the sky

Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I have been one acquainted with the night.

Robert Frost, The Poetry of Robert Frost,  Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1969.

f you recall your literature classes that dealt with the forms and structures of poetry, this evocative poem by Frost first published in 1927, would check many of the boxes.  It is a sonnet; a poem consisting of 14 lines made up of 3 quatrains and one rhyming couplet.  (Shakespeare wasn't the only one writing sonnets, although he helped popularize the form of the English or Shakespearean sonnet, as opposed to the Italian or Petrarchan sonnet which came centuries earlier. )

It has a classic rhyming scheme: ABA CDC DAD AA. and to top it all off, it's written in good old "iambic pentameter" the type of meter (10 syllables that make 5 heartbeats in the poem)  that just assures that you will read it with a poetic rhythm. 
I don't think it hurts to understand how something works; but wonderful poems like this rise above the mechanics.  The sadness, loneliness and isolation expressed by the poet is something that during this distressing time many of us will come to feel, no matter how busy we stay with necessary tasks or binge watching tv shows.  Night comes eventually, and with it, uncertainty.  We are not reassured or comforted by Frost's words; but we know we are not alone.  Our sadness and loneliness are legitimate feelings, worthy of acknowledgment.