CCCCVIII STARLIGHT

At midnight, when yon azure fields on high

Sparkle and glow without one cloudy bar,

The radiance of some 'bright particular star'

Attracts, perchance, and holds my watching eye.

That star may long have vanish'd from the sky;

Yet still its unspent rays, borne from afar,

Come darting downwards in their golden car --

Proof it once glitter'd in the galaxy.

So in my heart I feel a healing ray

Sweetly transmitted from a Star divine,

Which once illumed the coasts of Palestine:

And though its beauty beams not there to-day,

I know that Star of old did truly shine,

Because its cheering radiance now is mine.