In “Nightfall,” the speaker looks back on walks with someone dear that will never happen again. The repeated line “We will never walk again” makes the loss feel absolute. The memories are delicate and specific: fresh snow under golden streetlights, a spring park at midnight with dew and few passers-by. Those moments belong to the past, and thinking of them brings tenderness and pain. Now the speaker sits alone as a June twilight fades. The present world is louder and more public—a square clangs and a street-piano “cries”—while stars still appear overhead. The poem’s mood is wistful and melancholy: it captures how memory can hold onto intimate, quiet happiness even after it is gone, leaving only the ache of not being able to return.
Nightfall — Summary
We will never walk again As we used to walk at night, Watching our shadows lengthen Under the gold street-light When the snow was new and white.
We will never walk again Slowly, we two, In spring when the park is sweet With midnight and with dew, And the passers-by are few.
I sit and think of it all, And the blue June twilight dies,-- Down in the clanging square A street-piano cries And stars come out in the skies.