"The Day is Done" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The day is done, and the darkness
Falls from the wings of Night,
As a feather is wafted downward
From an eagle in his flight.

5 I see the lights of the village
Gleam through the rain and the mist,
And a feeling of sadness comes o’er me
That my soul cannot resist:

A feeling of sadness and longing,
10 That is not akin1 to pain,
And resembles sorrow only
As the mist resembles the rain.

Come, read to me some poem,
Some simple and heartfelt lay2,
15 That shall soothe this restless feeling,
And banish the thoughts of the day.

Not from the grand old masters,
Not from the bards3 sublime,
Whose distant footsteps echo
20 Through the corridors of Time.

For, like the strains of martial4 music,
Their mighty thoughts suggest
Life’s endless toil and endeavor;
And to-night I long for rest.

25 Read from some humbler poet,
Whose songs gushed from his heart,
As showers from the clouds of summer,
Or tears from the eyelids start;

Who, through long days of labor,
30 And nights devoid of ease,
Still heard in his soul the music
Of wonderful melodies.

Such songs have power to quiet
The restless pulse of care,
35 And come like the benediction5
The follows after prayer.

Then read from the treasured volume
The poem of thy choice,
And lend to the rhyme of the poet
40 The beauty of thy voice.

And the night shall be filled with music,
And the cars, that infest the day,
Shall fold their tents...
And as silently steal away.

Which quotation best clarifies the reason for the speaker’s request to hear a “simple and heartfelt lay” in line 14?

A “Read from some humbler poet,
Whose songs gushed from his heart,” (lines 25-26)

B “Who, through long days of labor,, , And nights devoid of ease,” (lines 29-30)

C “Still heard in his soul the music
Of wonderful melodies.” (lines 31-32)

D “Such songs have power to quiet
The restless pulse of care,” (lines 33-34)