noon
Now they come creeping towards him , lengthening as they come . And they are welcome . Can it be that he would ever have chosen a world without shadows ? Was not the trouble of the shadowless noon the dreariest of all ? Did he not then long for the curtained queen -- the all-shadowy night ? And shall he now regard with dismay the setting sun of his earthly life ? When he looks back , he sees the farthest cloud of the sun-deserted east alive with a rosy hue .