Hymns for Childhood/The Sun
THE SUN.
The Sun comes forth;—each mountain height
Glows with a tinge of rosy light,
And flowers, that slumbered through the night,
Their dewy leaves unfold;
A flood of splendour bursts on high,
And ocean's breast gives back a sky
All steep’d in molten gold.
Oh! thou art glorious, orb of day;
Exulting nations hail thy ray,
Creation swells a choral lay,
To welcome thy return;
From thee all nature draws her hues,
Thy beams the insect's wing suffuse,
And in the diamond burn.
Yet must thou fade;—when earth and heaven
By fire and tempest shall be riven,
Thou, from thy sphere of radiance driven,
Oh Sun! must fall at last;
Another heaven, another earth,
New pow’r, new glory shall have birth,
When all we see is past.
But He, who gave the word of might,
"Let there be light"—and there was light,
Who bade thee chase the gloom of night,
And beam the world to bless;–
For ever bright, for ever pure,
Alone unchanging shall endure,
The Sun of Righteousness!