HERBERT KNOWLES. THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM. WHEN marshalled on the nightly plain, The glittering host bestud the sky; One star alone, of all the train, Can fix the sinner's wandering eye. Hark! hark! to God the chorus breaks, Once on the raging seas I rode, The storm was loud, the night was dark, The ocean yawned, and rudely blowed The wind that tossed my foundering bark. Deep horror then my vitals froze, Death-struck, I ceased the tide to stem; When suddenly a star arose, It was the Star of Bethlehem. It was my guide, my light, my all, It bade my dark forebodings cease; 93 But the shadows of eve that encompass the gloom, The abode of the dead and the place of the tomb. Shall we build to Ambition? O, no! Affrighted, he shrinketh away; For, see! they would pin him below, In a small narrow cave, and, begirt with cold clay, To the meanest of reptiles a peer and a prey. To Beauty? ah, no!-she forgets The charms which she wielded beforeNor knows the foul worm that he frets The skin which but yesterday fools could adore, For the smoothness it held, or the tint which it wore. Shall we build to the purple of The trappings which dizen the proud? And through the storm and dangers' But the long winding-sheet and the fringe thrall, It led me to the port of peace. Now safely moored, my perils o'er, The Star!-the Star of Bethlehem! HERBERT KNOWLES. [1798-1827.] LINES WRITTEN IN RICHMOND CHURCHYARD, YORKSHIRE. "It is good for us to be here; if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias." MATT. XVII. 4. METHINKS it is good to be here; If thou wilt, let us build - but for whom? Nor Elias nor Moses appear, of the shroud. By night or day, The cataracts blow their trumpets from the steep, No more shall grief of mine the season wrong: I hear the echoes through the mountains throng, The winds come to me from the fields of sleep, And all the earth is gay; Land and sea Give themselves up to jollity, Shout round me, let me hear thy shouts, thou happy shepherd boy! The things which I have seen I now can Ye blessed creatures, I have heard the see no more. The rainbow comes and goes, And lovely is the rose; The moon doth with delight My heart is at your festival, My head hath its coronal, Look round her when the heavens are The fulness of your bliss, I feel — I feel bare; Waters on a starry night Are beautiful and fair; The sunshine is a glorious birth: That there hath passed away a glory from the earth. A timely utterance gave that thought relief, And I again am strong. it all. |