Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE MORNING STAR, by EDNA DEAN PROCTOR


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE MORNING STAR, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: How long and weary are the nights,' he said
Last Line: Companioned by the bright and morning star!
Alternate Author Name(s): Dean
Subject(s): Death; Stars; Whittier, John Greenleaf (1807-1892); Dead, The


'HOW long and weary are the nights,' he said,
'When thought and memory wake, and sleep has fled;
When phantoms from the past the chamber fill,
And tones, long silent, all my pulses thrill;
While, sharp as doom, or faint in distant towers,
Knell answering knell, the chimes repeat the hours,
And wandering wind and waning moon have lent
Their sighs and shadows to the heart's lament.
Then, from my pillow looking east, I wait
The dawn, and life and joy come back, elate,
When, fair above the seaward hill afar,
Flames the lone splendor of the morning star.'

O Vanished One! O loving, glowing heart!
When the last evening darkened round thy room,
Thou didst not with the setting moon depart;
Nor take thy way in midnight's hush and gloom;
Nor let the wandering wind thy comrade be,
Outsailing on the dim, unsounded sea —
The silent sea where falls the muffled oar,
And they who cross the strand return no more;
But thou didst wait, celestial deeps to try,
Till dawn's first rose had flushed the paling sky,
And pass, serene, to life and joy afar,
Companioned by the bright and morning star!





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