Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, HYMN TO HESPERUS, by DAVID MACBETH MOIR


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HYMN TO HESPERUS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Bright lonely beam, fair heavenly speck
Last Line: And usher in day's orient splendour.
Alternate Author Name(s): Delta
Subject(s): Hymns (as Literary Form)


I.

BRIGHT lonely beam, fair heavenly speck,
That, calling all the stars to duty,
Through stormless ether gleam'st to deck
The fulgent west's unclouded beauty;
All silent are the fields, and still
The umbrageous wood's recesses dreary,
As if calm came at thy sweet will,
And Nature of Day's strife were weary.

II.

Blent with the season and the scene,
From out her treasured stores, Reflection
Looks to the days when life was green,
With fond and thrilling retrospection;
The earth again seems haunted ground;
Youth smiles, by Hope and Joy attended;
And bloom afresh young flowers around,
With scent as rich and hues as splendid.

III.

How oft, 'mid eves as clear and calm,
These wild-wood pastures have I stray'd in,
When all these scenes of bliss and balm
Blue Twilight's mantle were array'd in!
How oft I've stole from bustling man,
From Art's parade and city riot,
The sweets of Nature's reign to scan,
And muse on Life in rural quiet!

IV.

Fair Star! with calm repose and peace
I hail thy vesper beam returning;
Thou seem'st to say that troubles cease
In the calm sphere where thou art burning:
Sweet 'tis on thee to gaze and muse;—
Sure angel wings around thee hover,
And from Life's fountain scatter dews
To freshen Earth, Day's fever over.

V.

Star of the Bee! with laden thigh
Thy twinkle warns its homeward winging;
Star of the Bird! thou bidd'st her lie
Down o'er her young, and hush her singing;
Star of the Pilgrim! travel-sore,
How sweet, reflected in the fountains,
He hails thy circlet, gleaming o'er
The shadow of his native mountains!

VI.

Thou art the Star of Freedom, thou
Undo'st the bonds which gall the sorest;
Thou bring'st the ploughman from his plough;
Thou bring'st the woodman from his forest;
Thou bring'st the wave-worn fisher home,
With all his scaly wealth around him;
And bidd'st the hearth-sick schoolboy roam,
Freed from the letter'd tasks that bound him.

VII.

Star of the Mariner! thy car,
O'er the blue waters twinkling clearly,
Reminds him of his home afar,
And scenes he still loves, ah, how dearly!
He sees his native fields, he sees
Grey twilight gathering o'er his mountains,
And hears the rustle of green trees,
The bleat of flocks, and gush of fountains.

VIII.

How beautiful, when, through the shrouds,
The fierce presaging storm-winds rattle,
Thou glitterest far above the clouds,
O'er waves that lash, and gales that battle;
And as, athwart the billows driven,
He turns to thee in fond devotion,
Star of the Sea! thou tell'st that Heaven
O'erlooks alike both land and ocean.

IX.

Star of the Mourner! 'mid the gloom,
When droops the West o'er Day departed,
The widow bends above the tomb
Of him who left her broken-hearted:
Darkness within, and Night around,
The joys of life no more can move her,
When lo! thou lightest the profound,
To tell that Heaven's eye glows above her.

X.

Star of the Lover! O, how bright
Above the copse wood dark thou shinest,
As longs he for those eyes of light,
For him whose lustre burns divinest!
Earth and the things of earth depart,
Transform'd to scenes and sounds Elysian;
Warm rapture gushes o'er his heart,
And Life seems like a faëry vision.

XI.

Yes, thine the hour when, daylight done,
Fond Youth to Beauty's bower thou lightest:
Soft shines the moon, bright shines the sun,
But thou, of all things, softest, brightest.
Still is thy beam as fair and young,
The torch illuming Evening's portal,
As when of thee lorn Sappho sung,
With burning soul, in lays immortal.

XII.

Star of the Poet! thy pale fire,
Awakening, kindling inspiration,
Burns in blue ether, to inspire
The loftiest themes of meditation;
He deems some holier, happier race
Dwells in the orbit of thy beauty,—
Souls of the Just, redeem'd by grace,
Whose path on earth was that of duty.

XIII.

Beneath thee Earth turns Paradise
To him, all radiant, rich, and tender;
And dreams arrayed by thee arise
'Mid Twilight's dim and dusky splendour:
Blest or accurst each spot appears;
A frenzy fine his fancy seizes;
He sees unreal shapes, and hears
The wail of spirits on the breezes.

XIV.

Bright leader of the hosts of Heaven!
When day from darkness God divided,
In silence through the empyrean driven,
Forth from the East thy chariot glided:
Star after star, o'er night and earth,
Shone out in brilliant revelation;
And all the angels sang for mirth,
To hail the finished, fair Creation.

XV.

Star of declining Day, farewell!—
Ere lived the Patriarchs, thou wert yonder;
Ere Isaac, 'mid the piny dell,
Went forth at eventide to ponder:
And when to Death's stern mandate bow
All whom we love, and all who love us,
Thou shalt uprise, as thou dost now,
To shine, and shed thy tears above us.

XVI.

Star that proclaims Eternity!
When o'er the lost Sun Twilight weepeth,
Thou light'st thy beacon-tower on high,
To say, "He is not dead, but sleepeth;"
And forth with Dawn thou comest too,
As all the hosts of Night surrender,
To prove thy sign of promise true,
And usher in Day's orient splendour.





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