Night Musings

The sun’s keen rays are hidden by the hills, But golden glories flame along the sky, Shooting their radiance to the lofty crown Of heaven’s bright vault. Unnumbered floating clouds Skirt the horizon, and their crimson folds Burn like a furnace in the glowing light, Yet softly, gently; no fierce earthly fire Is passing on them, but they calmly rest As in the warmth and lustre of some sphere By spirits tenanted; and gazing deep Through yon refulgent vistas of the west, The heart is ’wakened to immortal thoughts Of higher beings, or of purer worlds; To contemplations fitted to receive The starry lessons of the coming night. More soft and pure, more varied and serene, The rainbow hues of fading twilight grow. Above the summit of yon mountain peak, The glittering star of evening sparkles fair With gem-like radiance. O’er the darkening earth The warm mists hover, and on buds and bells Distil their fragrant life-inspiring dews. Sweet flowers send forth their incense of perfume, And fill the air with odour, breathing round

A rich refreshment, grateful to the heart. Deep shadows spread, as if from heaven’s high arch, Night, like a purple curtain, slowly fell, Enfringed with gold, and richly ’broidered o’er With sparkling gems, all scintillating bright. The purple deepens, and one star-filled dome, Circles with lustre all the earth around So calm and peaceful, so serenely fair, That earth’s wild passions at the glorious sight Seem awed into repose; and man, brought forth Amid a solitude sublime, to muse With elevated thoughts, and higher aims, Infused from heaven, and kindled by the glance Of those far orbs, so lucid soft and clear, Till all his soul in humble worship melts, And holy reverence before the high, Majestic presence of the starry worlds. Ye gleaming lights, how beautiful ye shine, Filling the night with loveliness. Not one, Of all your myriads, but reveals a tale Of ages so remote and vast, they seem As an eternity to short-lived man. Thus calmly shone ye when the formless deep Heaved with the birth-throes of this present world, And mountain summits forced their jagged heads Through the dark surges of the boiling main. Slow spread the continents beneath your light In fearful desolation. Turbid flowed

The new-born rivers through the wilderness, Herbless and treeless their wild, dreary banks. But soon the life-touch of Creative breath Passed o’er this desert, and it swiftly bloomed, In verdant beauty. Herb and fruit and flower Mingled their loveliness beneath the shade Of trees umbrageous. The wide waters teemed With pregnant life, the groves were filled with song, And hill and valley echoed to the cry Of new-formed creatures sporting in delight. When earth was fitted to receive her guest, After long ages of successive change And wondrous preparation, man appeared, Creation’s crown, the culminating point Where finite and where infinite unite; Where thought could dwell, and with sublime ascent, Rise from all creatures to their Living Cause. How fearful and how wonderful is mind! A mystic mirror, fitted to reflect The universe with all its varied forms, In pure unsullied beauty; thence to pierce Through the rich vision, and the fair array, And deeply search each hidden spring and cause Till, link by link, the golden chain is found That binds creation to the Throne of Power. How full of wonder man’s first ardent gaze Around the earth, in daylight beauty bright; But higher wonder must have stirred his soul—

More deep religious awe—when first the night Revealed the glories of her ebon shade, With thousand lamps attendant. Soon his mind Would strive to learn the mystery immense Of all their fair array. “Are ye mere lights Amid the azure canopy of heaven, In order marshalled, to redeem the night From utter desolation? Oh! ye move In wondrous sequence, and keep up a march O’er the same pathway that the sun hath trod. How godlike is your aspect, ye must rule The destinies of man. Your varied fires Control the life within him and around, And make the kingdoms of the earth your own.” Thus, in the infancy of mind, the stars, Bright realms of light, by erring thought, were made To shed a darkness on the human soul, And bind its free-born energies. But now, When thought, through centuries its march sublime Hath onward held, and Science hath enlarged Her bounds as ocean: to man’s questionings The heavens unfold their secrets, and send down Their revelations to astound his soul. Her magic tube Astronomy hath held With power aloft, and pierced the hidden depths, Then turned to earth again, and told the tale, The mighty tale, most wonderful yet true— That yon bright specks are gorgeous worlds and suns, In countless millions, far apart and spread Throughout immensity, in ordered clans, Harmonious systems, moving swiftly on With power past utt’rance, through the aweful, vast, Infinitude of space, and had their birth Or first commenced their race sublime amid Such deep profundity of ancient Time It seems Eternity. Ye mighty worlds, Like them of old, still would I fondly think That on your orbs man’s destiny is writ In brighter, fairer characters than e’er Chaldean sage decyphered. Tell ye not The greatness of that essence that can link Itself by thought with ye? And are ye not The cradles of his being, the primal worlds Where his immortal destiny begins, From whence ascending, into higher spheres, His growing spirit may at length find rest In spiritual realms? Your numbers tell Of “numbers numberless” of finite minds, Created likenesses of God most High, In whose full myriads he may image forth His own infinity, and fill their souls With heavenly goodness, wisdom high and pure, That thus receiving from the fount of Life The living stream, their natures may become Divine, angelical, prepared to form A still increasing universe of bliss.

Oh thought ennobling, destiny sublime! Happy the man who marks the canons writ On his own being, on the sacred page Of revelation, and the ordered frame Of this fair world, and with an effort firm And persevering, strives to win the prize! How grand the lessons of creation’s book, How mighty every page, when read aright, To teach humility to man, and fill His breast with sacred confidence and love And holy fear. Then, bow ye, and adore, The infinite of Love whence all things are, The infinite of Truth that gave them frame, The infinite of Power wherein they dwell, The one Creating and Redeeming God!