Queen Berengaria's Courtesy, and Other Poems By the Lady E. Stuart Wortley. In Three Vols |
 | I, II, III. |
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THE MOON'S LIGHT. |
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 | Queen Berengaria's Courtesy, and Other Poems |  |
THE MOON'S LIGHT.
How lovely this calm eve! the clouds flock by,Like gorgeous pageants through the enkindled sky,
Those rosy and these silvery—tyrian some—
Such hues as make the daylight look like gloom
Compared with them!—yon bright one seems piere'd thro',
As though with barbēd sunbeams till the blue
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(E'en in our sight, for many a skyey rood.)
Turned ruddy there!—how soon, serenely soon
Shall the World whiten to the pearl-browed Moon,
As both were spheres of silver without stain,
Nor one bright tint of the veiled Sun retain!
As though he were forgotten in that hour
Of softer influence and of gentler power,
And yet—Oh! glorious Sun! it is thy light
That streams—e'en then in holy lustre bright,
From the star-peopled and fair vaulted Sky—
Beauteous in soft and trembling radiancy!
That lovely Moon is but a precious urn,
Wherein thy glittering treasures brightly burn,
And she but gives us what thou giv'st to her—
Thy handmaid fair, and Queenly Minister!—
'Tis thus, when we bright gifts of good receive,
To which we still with fond devotion cleave,
In this our passing life of visions vain—
Of troubled pleasures and o'er ruling pain,
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And deem these objects visible must bring—
(And more than bring—must furnish and supply,
And bless us with their rich sufficiency!)
The wealth we grasp so fondly—nor confess
They are but the almoners of Happiness!—
For us on Earth, from higher source must come
Each joy attending thus our mortal doom!
We still forget the Sun we do not see—
Though thence our light must come unchangeably!
| Queen Berengaria's Courtesy, and Other Poems | |