The fasts are done; the Aves said; The moon has filled her horn And in the solemn night I watch Before the Easter morn. So pure, so still the starry heaven, So hushed the brooding air, I could hear the sweep of an angel's wings If one should earthward fare.

In these lines Proctor evokes the threshold moment between Lent and Easter: the fasts have ended, prayers (“Aves,” i.e., Ave Marias) have been said, and the speaker keeps vigil in the hours “before the Easter morn.” The imagery fuses liturgical time with the natural world—the full moon (“filled her horn”) and a “pure” starry sky—so that spiritual expectation feels physically present in the night air. The hush is so complete the speaker imagines hearing “the sweep of an angel’s wings,” suggesting a heightened receptivity to grace and revelation. The passage captures Easter as not only a doctrinal event but an atmosphere of poised, reverent anticipation.