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.