Careful Words

vigil (n.)

And if we do but watch the hour,

There never yet was human power

Which could evade, if unforgiven,

The patient search and vigil long

Of him who treasures up a wrong.

Lord Byron 1788-1824: Mazeppa. Stanza 10.

Like sentinel and nun, they keep

Their vigil on the green.

Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894): The Cambridge Churchyard.