Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE POLAR STAR, by LETITIA ELIZABETH LANDON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE POLAR STAR, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: A star has left the kindling sky
Last Line: My heart to look for you.
Alternate Author Name(s): L. E. L.; Maclean, Letitia
Subject(s): Stars


This star sinks below the horizon in certain latitudes. I
watched it sink lower and
lower every night, till at last it disappeared.

A star has left the kindling sky --
A lovely northern light --
How many planets are on high,
But that has left the night!

I miss its bright familiar face;
It was a friend to me,
Associate with my native place
And those beyond the sea.

It rose upon our English sky,
Shone o'er our English land,
And brought back many a loving eye
And many a gentle hand.

It seem'd to answer to my thought,
It called the past to mind,
And with its welcome presence brought
All I had left behind.

The voyage, it lights no longer, ends
Soon on a foreign shore;
How can I but recall the friends
Whom I may see no more?

Fresh from the pain it was to part --
How could I bear the pain?
Yet strong the omen in my heart
That says -- We meet again.

Meet with a deeper, dearer love;
For absence shows the worth
Of all from which we then remove,
Friends, home, and native earth.

Thou lovely polar star! mine eyes
Still turned the first on thee,
Till I have felt a sad surprise
That none look'd up with me.

But thou hast sunk below the wave,
Thy radiant place unknown;
I seem to stand beside a grave,
And stand by it alone.

Farewell! -- ah, would to me were given
A power upon thy light,
What words upon our English heaven
Thy loving rays should write!

Kind messages of love and hope
Upon thy rays should be;
Thy shining orbit would have scope
Scarcely enough for me.

Oh, fancy, vain as it is fond,
And little needed too;
My friends! I need not look beyond
My heart to look for you.





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