Poems, on sacred and other subjects and songs, humorous and sentimental: By the late William Watt. Third edition of the songs only--with additional songs |
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STANZAS On a Starry Winter Night.
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 | Poems, on sacred and other subjects |  |
STANZAS On a Starry Winter Night.
The sun is set behind the hill,
The wind's asleep, the air is chill,
The world is clad in snow;
No sound assails the watchful ear,
Save when the distant linn I hear,
With pealing cadence, flow:
The dusky haze fumes down the vale,
And crusts the hoary spray;
The owl resumes her frightful wail
From yonder castle grey;
As, weary and dreary,
The trav'ller plods along,
Benighted, while frighted
By her terrific song.
The wind's asleep, the air is chill,
The world is clad in snow;
No sound assails the watchful ear,
Save when the distant linn I hear,
With pealing cadence, flow:
The dusky haze fumes down the vale,
And crusts the hoary spray;
The owl resumes her frightful wail
From yonder castle grey;
As, weary and dreary,
The trav'ller plods along,
Benighted, while frighted
By her terrific song.
Now, through the azure vault of heaven,
No dense and devious cloud is driven,
To intercept the light;
But, round and round, with golden rays,
Unnumber'd stars effulgent blaze,
With scintillation bright.
Great Jupiter, with monarch grace,
Leads on the brilliant host,
And wheels his course through boundless space,
Nor quits his destined post.
No jarring nor warring
Among those orbs is found,
But lightly and brightly
They sweep their mystic round.
No dense and devious cloud is driven,
To intercept the light;
But, round and round, with golden rays,
Unnumber'd stars effulgent blaze,
With scintillation bright.
Great Jupiter, with monarch grace,
Leads on the brilliant host,
And wheels his course through boundless space,
Nor quits his destined post.
220
Among those orbs is found,
But lightly and brightly
They sweep their mystic round.
Like some triumphant warrior bold,
All garnish'd o'er with gleaming gold,
Orion mounts on high;
He, vertic to the burning line,
Doth in refulgent beauty shine
To every human eye:
The raging Bull, in fiery red,
And glowing Twins, appear;
While Perseus, o'er Medusa's head,
High waves his sabre clear;
The Pleiades and Hyades
Like topaz jewels glance,
That gild the Queen with peerless heen,
Who leads the courtly dance.
All garnish'd o'er with gleaming gold,
Orion mounts on high;
He, vertic to the burning line,
Doth in refulgent beauty shine
To every human eye:
The raging Bull, in fiery red,
And glowing Twins, appear;
While Perseus, o'er Medusa's head,
High waves his sabre clear;
The Pleiades and Hyades
Like topaz jewels glance,
That gild the Queen with peerless heen,
Who leads the courtly dance.
Bright flames the frigid arctic Bear,
While calm the Lady-in-her-Chair
High mounts the vault sublime:
Boötes, in the north-east sky,
Lets Cara and Asterion fly
Throughout the azure clime;
The Lion, Britain's potent guard,
With Cancer, red doth roll,
While Draco and Camelopard
Wheel round the steady pole:
All streaming and beaming
With innate, glorious light,
Both clearing and cheering
The sullen gloom of night.
While calm the Lady-in-her-Chair
High mounts the vault sublime:
Boötes, in the north-east sky,
Lets Cara and Asterion fly
Throughout the azure clime;
The Lion, Britain's potent guard,
With Cancer, red doth roll,
While Draco and Camelopard
Wheel round the steady pole:
All streaming and beaming
With innate, glorious light,
Both clearing and cheering
The sullen gloom of night.
But who those sumless orbs can name
That through the bournless welkin flame,
So beauteous and so grand;
Thick as the dew-drops that adorn
The verdant fields at rosy morn,
When Sol illumes the land?
Around creation's outskirts wide
Is wound the Milky Way,
Whence glimmer through the awful void
The cloud-like nebulæ.
The comet doth roam it,
With bright protracted train,
Astounding, confounding,
The fearful, loreless swain.
That through the bournless welkin flame,
So beauteous and so grand;
Thick as the dew-drops that adorn
The verdant fields at rosy morn,
When Sol illumes the land?
Around creation's outskirts wide
Is wound the Milky Way,
Whence glimmer through the awful void
The cloud-like nebulæ.
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With bright protracted train,
Astounding, confounding,
The fearful, loreless swain.
The astronomic sage in vain
Essays to count the endless train
That through the gloom appear;
In vain his ardent mind he racks
To find their hair-breadth parallax;
The task is too severe:
Far past the bounds of human ken
These truths mysterious lie,
To teach the haughty sons of men
Profound humility:
But they still astray still
From lessons so benign,
Do plan still to scan still
Omniscience, though divine!
Essays to count the endless train
That through the gloom appear;
In vain his ardent mind he racks
To find their hair-breadth parallax;
The task is too severe:
Far past the bounds of human ken
These truths mysterious lie,
To teach the haughty sons of men
Profound humility:
But they still astray still
From lessons so benign,
Do plan still to scan still
Omniscience, though divine!
Could He, for nought but gaudy show,
Create those flaming orbs to glow
Round this small world in vain?
No! reason cries; for still we see
Wealth, join'd with strict frugality,
In all his works remain:
They, if analogy we trust,
Life's green abodes may be,
Whose 'habitants, unknown by lust,
Sip pure felicity;
All strangers to dangers
Which we, accursed, meet,
Where no care e'er frown'd there,
To sour their bliss complete.
Create those flaming orbs to glow
Round this small world in vain?
No! reason cries; for still we see
Wealth, join'd with strict frugality,
In all his works remain:
They, if analogy we trust,
Life's green abodes may be,
Whose 'habitants, unknown by lust,
Sip pure felicity;
All strangers to dangers
Which we, accursed, meet,
Where no care e'er frown'd there,
To sour their bliss complete.
How solemn, awful! that great day
Which sweeps those brilliant lamps away
From being's gay domain!
When, at the thund'ring trump of doom,
They vanish, in primeval gloom,
No more to shine again!
When fate's dark curtain shall be furl'd,
And every soul shall see,
Within the intellectual world,
His endless destiny:
In pleasure past measure
On heaven's bright plains to dwell,
Else groaning and moaning
In gloomy vaulted hell.
Which sweeps those brilliant lamps away
From being's gay domain!
When, at the thund'ring trump of doom,
They vanish, in primeval gloom,
No more to shine again!
When fate's dark curtain shall be furl'd,
And every soul shall see,
Within the intellectual world,
His endless destiny:
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On heaven's bright plains to dwell,
Else groaning and moaning
In gloomy vaulted hell.
Now, gilding mountain, tower, and vale,
The Moon wide spreads her saffron veil
Athwart the twinkling heaven;
Eclipsed by her more yellow light,
The stars, and boreales bright,
Far from the sight are driven:
She cheers the nightly trav'ller's path,
While all is drear and still,
And lights the drifty, lonely rath,
To shepherds faint and chill.
I home now will roam now
To my low-roof'd abode,
While wondering, and pondering
Upon the works of God.
The Moon wide spreads her saffron veil
Athwart the twinkling heaven;
Eclipsed by her more yellow light,
The stars, and boreales bright,
Far from the sight are driven:
She cheers the nightly trav'ller's path,
While all is drear and still,
And lights the drifty, lonely rath,
To shepherds faint and chill.
I home now will roam now
To my low-roof'd abode,
While wondering, and pondering
Upon the works of God.
| Poems, on sacred and other subjects | |