 | Night and death |  |
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NIGHT AND DEATH
Mysterious Night! when our first parent knewThee from report divine, and heard thy name,
Did he not tremble for this mortal frame,
This glorious canopy of light and blue?
Yet with a curtain of translucent dew
Bathed in the rays of the great setting flame,
Hesperus with the host of heaven came,
And lo! creation widened in man's view.
Who could have thought such darkness lay concealed
Within thy beams, O Sun! or who could find
Whilst fly and leaf and insect stood revealed,
That to such countless orbs thou mad'st us blind?
Why, do we, then, shun death with anxious strife?
If light can thus deceive, wherefore not life?
Blanco White
| Night and death | |