Moral Pieces, in Prose and Verse/The Solitary Star

by Lydia Sigourney

THE SOLITARY STAR.

PURE planet, whose propitious ray
Illumes the darkness of my way;

O gentle Star, whose light is thrown
O'er the sad path I trace alone:
Have all thy sisters gone to rest,
That thou alone with golden crest,
And wrapt within thy mantle white,
Should softly gleam upon my sight?
For as a friend thou seem'st to guide
My steps, and journey by my side.

To view me with a mournful eye,
To veil thy face as if to sigh,
Then meekly bending down thine ear
The accent of my woes to hear.

O mild effulgence of the sky,
    Whose gentle beams of heavenly light,
Soft float in liquid splendour by;
    And pour upon the raptur'd sight.

Ray of that ray, which heav'n pervades,
Light of that light, which never fades;
Still deign to guide me as a friend,
And when my earthly wanderings end,
When death shall close my swimming eyes,
May mercy's peaceful star arise,
And point me to that heavenly shore,
Where I shall need thy light no more.