Fugitive Poetry. 1600–1878/The Bright and Morning Star

The Bright and Morning Star.

The last sand from time's hour-glass Shall soon disappear,And like vapour shall vanish This old rolling sphere.

On the floor like the chaff-stream In the dark wintry day,From the fan of destruction Shall suns drift away.

And the meteors of glory Which 'wilder the wise,Only gleam till we open In true worlds our eyes.

But aloft in God's heaven, There blazeth a star,And I live while I'm watching Its light from afar.

From its lustre immortal My soul caught the spark,Which shall beam on undying When sunshine is dark.

So transforming its radiance Its strength so benign,Dull clay burns a ruby, And man grows divine.

To the zenith ascended, From Joseph's dark tomb,Star of Jesse! so rivet My gaze through the gloom,

That Thy beauty imbibing, My dross may refine,Till in splendour reflected I burn and I shine.