Nor whence ye came, nor whither go, Nor what your aim, or end. I know they must be holy things, Their mysteries I never sought, Nor hearkened to what science tells; For, oh! in childhood I was taught That God amidst them dwells. The darkening woods, the fading trees, The grasshopper's last feeble sound, The flower just wakened by the breeze, All leave the stillness more profound. The twilight takes a deeper shade, The dusky path-ways blacker grow, And silence reigns in glen and glade, All, all is mute below. And other eves as sweet as this Will close upon as calm a day, And, sinking down the deep abyss, Will, like the last, be swept away; Until Eternity is gained, That boundless sea without a shore, That without Time for ever reigned, And will when Time 's no more. EVENING SONG OF THE WEARY. Now nature sinks in soft repose, Tree, mountain stream, the humble sod, And cry, EVENING SONG OF THE WEARY. 23 MRS. HEMANS. FATHER of Heaven and Earth! I bless thee for the night, The holy pause of care and mirth, Now far in glade and dell, Have shut around the sleeping woodlark's nest; O'erwearied and o'erwrought, Bless thee, O God, O Father of the oppressed, With my last waking thought, In the still night! Yes, ere I sink to rest, By the fire's dying light, Thou Lord of Earth and Heaven! I bless thee, who hast given Unto life's fainting travellers the night, The soft, still, holy night! THE RISING MOON. W. B. O. PEABODY. THE moon is up! how calm and slow And all the world lies still. The way-worn travellers with delight Her rising brightness see, Revealing all the paths and plains, And gilding every tree. It glistens where the hurrying stream THE LIGHT OF STARS. So once on Judah's evening hills And still that light upon the world The waning moon in time shall fail But God hath kindled this bright light THE LIGHT OF STARS. W. H. FURNESS. SLOWLY, by God's hand unfurled, Mighty Spirit, ever nigh! Veil the day's distracting sights, 25 Living stars to view be brought, Flaming like those upper fires! Holy Truth, eternal Right, - THE INFINITY OF SPACE. JOHN STERLING. WHEN up to nightly skies we gaze, But could we rise to moon or sun, "T is vain to dream those tracts of space With all their worlds approach His face; One glory fills each wheeling ball, One love has shaped and moved them all. |