62. Per Tenebras Lumina.
by Mrs. Whitney.
I know how, through the golden hours,When summer sunlight floods the deep,
The fairest stars of all the heaven
Climb up, unseen, the effulgent steep.
Orion girds him with a flame;
And king-like, from the eastward seas,
Comes Aldebaran, with his train
Of Hyades and Pleiades.
In far meridian pride, the Twins
Build, side by side, their luminous thrones;
And Sirius and Procyon pour
A splendor that the day disowns.
And stately Leo, undismayed,
With fiery footstep tracks the Sun,
To plunge adown the western blaze,
Sublimely lost in glories won.
I know, if I were called to keep
Pale morning watch with grief and pain,
Mine eyes should see their gathering might
Rise grandly through the gloom again.
And when the winter solstice holds
In his diminished path the sun--
When hope, and growth, and joy are o'er,
And all our harvesting is done--
When, stricken like our mortal life,
Darkened and chill, the year lays down
The summer beauty that she wore,
Her summer stars of harp and crown--
Thick trooping with their golden tread
They come, as nightfall fills the sky,
Those strong and solemn sentinels,
To hold their mightier watch on high.
Ah! who shall shrink from dark and cold,
Or fear the sad and shortening days,
Since God doth only so unfold
The wider glory to his gaze?
Since loyal Truth, and holy Trust,
And kingly Strength defying Pain,
Stern Courage, and sure Brotherhood
Are born from out the depths again?
Dear country of our love and pride!
So is thy stormy winter given!
So, through the terrors that betide,
Look up, and hail thy kindling heaven!
Atlantic Monthly.
