| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | I. “There is a magic in the moon’s mild ray” | | By John Howard Bryant (1807–1902) |
| | | THERE is a magic in the moon’s mild ray,— | |
| What time she softly climbs the evening sky, | |
| And sitteth with the silent stars on high,— | |
| That charms the pang of earth-born grief away. | |
| I raise my eye to the blue depths above, | 5 |
| And worship Him whose power, pervading space, | |
| Holds those bright orbs at peace in his embrace, | |
| Yet comprehends earth’s lowliest things in love. | |
| Oft, when the silent moon was sailing high, | |
| I ’ve left my youthful sports to gaze, and now, | 10 |
| When time with graver lines has marked my brow, | |
| Sweetly she shines upon my sobered eye. | |
| O, may the light of truth, my steps to guide, | |
| Shine on my eve of life,—shine soft, and long abide. | | | | |
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