The star of the north. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1849-1866, 1854-08-03
From aNight aad The Soul" tis great poem
he age By j. STAsvaN BIeG.
NIGH

1 r.
NIGHT.
The night is lovely, and love her with
Apassionale devotion, for she stirs
Feelings too deep for uteranoe within me.
She thrills me with an influence and a pow
err -..s.s,-f s. k.ts -
A sadden'd kind OF joy | cannot name,
So that meet her brightest smiles with tears
She seemeth like prophecies, too wise,
Knowing, ah! all too much Tor happiness;
As though she had tried all things, and had
found i5t.,i',f4 an Eet
All vain aud wanting, andwas ihenceforih
steepd
Up 10 the very dark, tear-lidded eyes
In a mysterious gloom, a holy calm!
Doth she no, look now just as If she knew
All that hath been, and all that is 10 come ?
With one Of her all l.prescient glances tum'd
Towards those kindred depths which slept
for aye
The cable robe which God threw round him.
self,
And where. pavillion'd in slooms, he dwelt
In brooding night for ages, perfectiag
The glorious dream OF past eernities,
The fabric OF CREATION, running adown
The long iime-avenuss, and gazing out
Into those blanks which slept before time
was; w
And with another searching glance, tnred up
Towards unknown, ,fuiufiies--lhe book
OF unborn wonders--fili she nath psrused
The chapter of its doom and with an eye
Nude vague sy the dim vasiness of its VS.
Watching unmOved the fall of burning
worlds,
Rolling along the steep sides of the Infinite,
All ripe, like apples dropping from their
Till The wide fields of space, like orchards
slripp'd
Have yielded up their treasures TO the gar
ner,
And the last star hath fallen from the crown
or ihe high hsayeuS itil9 Giits night,
Like bright moment swailow'd up and lost
In hours of afer.snguish aud all things
Are as they were in the beginning, ere
The mighty page aat lrafl'd It's golden skirts
Along the glillering pathway oi lis GOD,
Save that the spacious halls OF heaven are
With countless muliilndes of finite souls,
With gsrm-like iniiuile capacities.
AS If TO prove all had not been dream.
It's this thai Night seems always thinking
of;
Linking tie void past TO The future void,
And iypiiying present. times in stars,
Toshow iha. all is not quite issueess,
But that ihe blacks have yielded starlike
ones
To cluster round the sapphire throne of God
In pIss for ever, and for evermore
Oh yes! | love the Night, who ever stand
whh her her ssu@,l finger on her rich hps
lip,
As if in attitude Of deep attention,
Catching the mighty Genes Of The words
Which God had allsfd sss the eaIsA was
form'd,
Or ere yon In finite blush'd like bride
With all her jewels. and | love the flowers,
And their soft slumber as they lie around
In the sweet starlight, bathed in loye.like
And looking like young sisters, orphans too,
Left to our watchfui care and guardianship,
To keep them from the rongh-voIced, burly
winds, kfs4
And see thai nought irvades their soul-like
sleep,
Thou cansi not tell me what do not love
10 all this dark k-robed family OF peace:
The temporary hush OF the low wiads,
And their uprising wall :--the shadows there
Cast from the long dark strawberries, that
move
And rest again ON the greensward, and nod
Their heaIse-like pIummags 10 the passing
winds:
The deep, unclouded light, halt glow, half
gloom,
Dark, and YET lustrous, cleaning with fire
Whose sources seem unfaihomable love
Even the very grass beneath our feet
Whose graceful blades almost fear to tread
on,
Because, when, l have pase'd, ihey raise
themselves i,ss~. ~
Again, half IN Ieproach, SC quietly
Turning themselves once more unto the
heaven
That chershes and feeds them, could
weep aas
That had crush'd them underneath my foot;
Even yon tree, standing so lonely there,
As ii il dream'd Of all the music which
It's branches used 10 hold wheu in their
primo, -
Ere il became dead and blasted thing
Upon The bosom Of the living world,
Which she still weare,h, as maiden wears
The wither'd flowers Of tEe sweet Long-Ago,
Ere love itself and lover both were dead!
And yet love il ioo-gim ancient thing.
All, all, oh yes, dearly love Them all !!