If to the heavens you lift your eyes When Winter reigns o'er our Northern skies, And snow-cloud none the zenith mars, At Yule-tide midnight these your stars: Low in the South see bleak-blazing Sirius; Above him hang Betelgeuse, Procyon wan; Wild-eyed to West of him, Rigel and Bellatrix, And rudd-red Aldebaran journeying on. High in night's roof-tree beams twinkling Capella; Vega and Deneb prowl low in the North; Far to the East roves the Lion-heart, Regulus; While the twin sons of Zeus to'rd the zenith gleam forth. But when Midsummer Even in man's sleep-drowsed hours Refreshes for daybreak its dew-bright flowers, Though three of these Night Lights aloft remain, For nine, if you gaze, you will gaze in vain. Yet comfort find, for, far-shining there, See golden Arcturus and cold Altair; Crystalline Spica, and, strange to scan, Blood-red Antares, foe to Man. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MY HUT; AFTER TRAN QUANG KHAI by HAYDEN CARRUTH ON CARPACCIO'S PICTURE: THE DREAM OF ST. URSALA; SONNET by AMY LOWELL THE METROPOLITAN TOWER by SARA TEASDALE SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE: 4 by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING THE DAY IS DONE by PHOEBE CARY ON THE DEATH OF MR. CRASHAW by ABRAHAM COWLEY |