Poems (Holmes)/On Morning

by Alice Ann Holmes

For works with similar titles, see On Morning.

On Morning.

Oh, sweet is the dawning hour,
 When dews like holy incense rise,
And waft to God, on mystic wings,
 Earth's morning sacrifice.

And fair Aurora tints
 The azure sky with golden light,
And chases far the sable clouds
 That veil the world in night.

And angels bright that watch
 Nightly while earth reposing lies,
Spreading their pure celestial wings,
 Mount swiftly to the skies.

Or rosy twilight fades
 Before the gorgeous king of day,
Who from the east rejoicing comes
 In glorious array.

And gentle zephyrs kiss
 Dew-drops from the blushing flowers,
That waking shed their odors sweet
 Through fields and summer bowers.

And on the ocean's wave
 Sunbeams like golden shadows gleam,
And laughing breezes catch the spray
 That leaps from mountain stream.

And to the huntsman's horn
 The echoing rocks and hills reply,
And beasts of prey that nightly prowl -
 Like falcons swift go by.

And insect voices greet
 With songs of praise the waking day,
And feathered songsters warble sweet
 To God their morning lay.

And man from sweet repose,
 Joyful again to see the light,
Goes forth to toil with cheerful heart,
 Till day gives place to night.

O sweet and hallowed time,
 Let thy peaceful influence rest
On all the hours that shall succeed
 To this that thou hast blessed.