The Evening Star.
Bright as young joy it seems to stir,1
And gain upon our mortal view,2
As if it were a messenger3
Rejoicing while descending through4
The dewy depths of twilight’s blue,5
And travelling to this world below6
With tidings glad for human woe.7
Enlarging still, intensely bright,8
As if it borrowed all its light9
From hope and beauty, life and love,10
And shone upon our mortal sight,11
To lure us to the heaven above.12
And would, O would that sometimes we13
From this woe-shadowed world could see14
Descending from their heaven afar,15
Exulting like that lustrous star,16
The spirits of the once adored,17
The loved, the lost ones, not restored18
Wan as they were with death’s alarms,19
But, starlike, in those evening skies,20
If not to our extended arms,21
Yet once more to our tearful eyes !22