Page:Poems McDonald.djvu/25

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the heavens.
19
Transient but beautiful, the meteor's glare
Lights for a moment the uplifted eye;
Orion and the Pleiades are nigh,
The Polar Star unwearied, and with them
The day's bright herald, as the night lays by
The regal splendors of her diadem,
And lost in greater glory, fades each radiant gem.

But more, look up once more, and trembling see
The clouds unfurl their banners in the sky:
Loud rolls the thunder's dread artillery,
And swift and fierce the winged lightnings fly;
Veil, mortal, veil thy terror-stricken eye,
Jehovah speaks to listening man below;
And now the blast is spent, the storm gone by,
The sun shines forth triumphantly, and lo!
The darkest cloud is spanned by the bright promise-bow!

The heavens declare thy glory—in his might
The sun tells out thy praise from day to day—
The stars, the myriad stars, at noon of night,
Sing as they keep their fixed, unerring way;