Night thick with stars! The word infinity Is grasped by finite me, Until I think of stars that ages past Burst into meteors: and yet they cast Their rays with those of living orbs tonight. Strangely they give their light, These long-dead stars that perished when the world Was but an infant planet to be whirled About a power-mad sun. So I am one With beams of ghost stars shining on my hand, Reflecting as I stand How lights burn on although their source is dust; Persist because they must; Like Plato's wisdom; like grave Dante's dream, Staying to gleam, Though sage and poet with the dead have slept These many centuries; and men have kept Long watch to see their lights that shine afar, And proudly call them: "Deathless as a star." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE ANNIVERSARY [ANNIVERSARIE] by JOHN DONNE THESEUS by THOMAS STURGE MOORE FOR A MARRIAGE OF SAINT KATHERINE [OR, CATHERINE] by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI THE PERSIANS (PERSAE): THE BATTLE OF SALAMIS by AESCHYLUS ELEGY FOR A DEAD KING by AL-KUTANDI |