Page images
PDF
EPUB

HERBERT KNOWLES.

THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM.

WHEN marshalled on the nightly plain, The glittering host bestud the sky; One star alone, of all the train,

Can fix the sinner's wandering eye.

Hark! hark! to God the chorus breaks,
From every host, from every gem:
But one alone the Saviour speaks,
It is the Star of Bethlehem.

Once on the raging seas I rode,

The storm was loud, the night was dark,

The ocean yawned, and rudely blowed The wind that tossed my foundering bark.

Deep horror then my vitals froze, Death-struck, I ceased the tide to stem;

When suddenly a star arose,

It was the Star of Bethlehem.

It was my guide, my light, my all,

It bade my dark forebodings cease;

93

But the shadows of eve that encompass the gloom,

The abode of the dead and the place of the tomb.

Shall we build to Ambition? O, no! Affrighted, he shrinketh away;

For, see! they would pin him below,

In a small narrow cave, and, begirt with cold clay,

To the meanest of reptiles a peer and a prey.

To Beauty? ah, no!-she forgets The charms which she wielded beforeNor knows the foul worm that he frets

The skin which but yesterday fools could adore,

For the smoothness it held, or the tint which it wore.

Shall we build to the purple of
Pride-

The trappings which dizen the proud?
Alas! they are all laid aside;"
And here's neither dress nor adornment
allowed,

And through the storm and dangers' But the long winding-sheet and the fringe

thrall,

It led me to the port of peace.

Now safely moored, my perils o'er,
I'll sing, first in night's diadem,
Forever and forevermore

The Star!-the Star of Bethlehem!

HERBERT KNOWLES.

[1798-1827.]

LINES WRITTEN IN RICHMOND

CHURCHYARD, YORKSHIRE.

"It is good for us to be here; if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias." MATT. XVII. 4.

METHINKS it is good to be here; If thou wilt, let us build - but for whom?

Nor Elias nor Moses appear,

of the shroud.

[blocks in formation]

Unto Sorrow? -The dead cannot | Beneath-the cold dead, and around—

[blocks in formation]

FROM WORDSWORTH TO LONGFELLOW.

[blocks in formation]

By night or day,

The cataracts blow their trumpets from the steep,

No more shall grief of mine the season

wrong:

I hear the echoes through the mountains throng,

The winds come to me from the fields of sleep,

And all the earth is gay;

Land and sea

Give themselves up to jollity,
And with the heart of May
Doth every beast keep holiday;-
Thon child of joy,

Shout round me, let me hear thy shouts, thou happy shepherd boy!

The things which I have seen I now can Ye blessed creatures, I have heard the

see no more.

The rainbow comes and goes,

And lovely is the rose;

The moon doth with delight

[blocks in formation]

My heart is at your festival,

My head hath its coronal,

Look round her when the heavens are The fulness of your bliss, I feel — I feel

bare;

Waters on a starry night

Are beautiful and fair;

The sunshine is a glorious birth:
But yet I know, where'er I go,

That there hath passed away a glory from the earth.

[blocks in formation]

A timely utterance gave that thought relief,

And I again am strong.

it all.

[blocks in formation]
« PreviousContinue »