University of Virginia Library

When in our lives some evil change
Fills our sad eyes with transient tears,
If not from piety, we turn
From habit, to those stars that burn
With quiet sympathetic light
Up in the blue ethereal spheres—
Those far star-lands, where comets range
From time to time, and whence the sight
Uplifted, seems to meet the eyes
Of God, assuming planet guise,
Tho' heav'n-abiding, earthward bent
Towards our heavy eyes that weep:
Ah, little stars, your vigils keep
High in the distant firmament!
Visible witnesses to prove
That 'tis not only Death and Love
Which mortals may not comprehend,
For what you are, and whither tend
Your constellations, clustering
And clinging to the vault of heav'n
We know not, sadly wondering
All veil'd and blinded as we are,
Thoughtlessly worshipping that star
Maybe the omen of our end!
How dare we, till the clouds are riven
Shrouding our dull intelligence
Hope for encouragement from thence,
When e'en we know not what is best
For our own welfare day by day,
Obeying blindly the behest
Of hearts as changing as the waves,
Fickle and ignorant as they—
Mere puppets in some mighty hand
Luring us on to shoal or strand,
Or to mysterious ocean-caves,
Where our dead hearts may be the food
Of cruel syrens of the flood.
In vain I lift my tearful eyes
Towards th' impenetrable skies,
The careless stars vouchsafe no light
To show which path is wrong or right,
Without a hope, without a guide,
I seem a straw upon the tide
Of Life's inevitable stream;
All helpless to resist the flow
Of such a cataract, I seem
Without a will—would I could know
If it were best to trust my boat
Upon this mystic wave and float
Towards the ocean-gates, and be
Borne to the unfathomable sea?