| |
A Legend of the Stars
PRELUDE THE STARS are heaven’s ministers; | |
| Right royally they teach | |
| God’s glory and omnipotence, | |
| In wondrous lowly speech. | |
| All eloquent with music as | 5 |
| The tremblings of a lyre, | |
| To him that hath an ear to hear | |
| They speak in words of fire. | |
| |
| Not to learnèd sages only | |
| Their whisperings come down; | 10 |
| The monarch is not glorified | |
| Because he wears a crown. | |
| The humblest soldier in the camp | |
| Can win the smile of Mars, | |
| And ’tis the lowliest spirits hold | 15 |
| Communion with the stars. | |
| |
| Thoughts too refined for utterance, | |
| Ethereal as the air, | |
| Crowd through the brain’s dim labyrinths, | |
| And leave their impress there; | 20 |
| As far along the gleaming void | |
| Man’s tender glances roll, | |
| Wonder usurps the throne of speech, | |
| But vivifies the soul. | |
| |
| Oh, heaven-cradled mysteries, | 25 |
| What sacred paths ye’ve trod— | |
| Bright, jewelled scintillations from | |
| The chariot-wheels of God! | |
| When in the spirit He rode forth, | |
| With vast creative aim, | 30 |
| These were His footprints left behind, | |
| To magnify His name! | |
| |
