Fugitive Poetry. 1600–1878/Lines Suggested by the Brilliant Aurora

Lines Suggested by the Brilliant Aurora,

January 15th, 1820.

From The North Georgia Gazette and Winter Chronicle, a weekly newspaper, which was edited by Captain Sabine, and got up for the crews of Captain Parry's Arctic Expedition, when wintering in Winter Harbour, North Georgian Islands.

 

High quivering in the air, as shadows fly,The northern lights adorn the azure sky;Dimmed by superior blaze, the stars retire,And heaven's vast concave gleams with sportive fire.Soft blazing in the east, the orange hue,The crimson, purple, and ethereal blue,Form a rich arch, by floating clouds upheld,High poised in air, with awful mystery swelled;From whose dark centres, with unceasing roll,Rich coruscations gild the glowing pole.Their varied hues, slow waving o'er the bay,Eclipse the splendour of the dawning day;Streamers in quick succession o'er the skyFrom the arc's centre far diverging fly;Pencils of rays, pure as the heaven's own light,Dart rapid upward to the zenith's height.Transfixed with wonder on the frozen flood,The blaze of grandeur fired my youthful blood;Deep in th' o'erwhelming maze of Nature's laws,'Midst her mysterious gloom, I sought the cause;How vain the search! inscrutable to manThy works have been, O God! since time began,And still shall be. Then let the thought expire;As late the splendours of Aurora's fireTo dark oblivion sunk, in wasting flame;Like the dim shadows of departed fame!