(For the Rev. James J. Daly, S. J.) Bright stars, yellow stars, flashing through the air, Are you errant strands of Lady Mary's hair? As she slits the cloudy veil and bends down through, Do you fall across her cheeks and over heaven too? Gay stars, little stars, you are little eyes, Eyes of baby angels playing in the skies. Now and then a winged child turns his merry face Down toward the spinning world -- what a funny place! Jesus Christ came from the Cross (Christ receive my soul!) In each perfect hand and foot there was a bloody hole. Four great iron spikes there were, red and never dry, Michael plucked them from the Cross and set them in the sky. Christ's Troop, Mary's Guard, God's own men, Draw your swords and strike at Hell and strike again. Every steel-born spark that flies where God's battles are, Flashes past the face of God, and is a star. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BIRTHDAY OF DANIEL WEBSTER by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES THE MARTYR; INDICATIVE OF PASSION OF PEOPLES APRIL 15, 1865 by HERMAN MELVILLE A VALENTINE by LAURA ELIZABETH HOWE RICHARDS AN ELEGIE, OR FRIENDS PASSION, FOR HIS ASTROPHILL by MATTHEW ROYDEN THE DOUBLE-HEADED SNAKE OF NEWBURY by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER SOUNDS by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON ON A CORNELIAN HEART WHICH WAS BROKEN by GEORGE GORDON BYRON |