(For the Monitor.)

CELESTIAL FIRMAMENT.

There is a SUN of keener ray
Than gilds the silver clouds of day,
When, in their fleecy grandeur, they
Rest on the sky,
And charm, though transient be their stay,
The gazer's eye.

And there are stars of purer light
Than mark the solitude of night,—
Which, bursting on the wanderer's sight
With glorious sheen,

Urge him to view with new delight
The gilded scene.

And they shall circle round the SUN,
In their untiring course begun,
When nature and her works are gone
To swift decay,

And, while eternal ages run,

Ne'er fade away.

And 'tis a land of perfect bliss-
The residence of righteousness-
In which they sparkle numberless

And fairer shine,

As in their circlings they increase
And seem divine.

O! I would be a star like them,
In those far distant realms of fame,
And glitter in the Diadem

Of Him I love,

Who lives of everlasting name

In courts above.

G. M. BARD.

N. B. Patrons are referred to the preface for our future ar-rangement.