NIGHT

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 138, 29 September 1870, Page 7

NIGHT

I. Clear and unclouded are the azure skies ; The stars are forth, ami in bright radiance shine, And beauteous Nature, wrapped in slumber, lies In stern magnificence of awe divine ! la this lone wood, as pensive I recline, Lull'd by the solemn nioanings of the wind, I, for awhile, all woildly cares resign, For loftier thoughts inspire my musing mind : As fancy flies to heaven all cares are left behind.

n. 'Tis Sabbath eve, and all around is still ; No sound breaks in upon my calm repose Save the faint inurmcrs of yon distant rill That glitters in the moonlight as it flows Along the wooded vale, and wider grows U.itil 'cis launched in the o'erwhelming sea !— 'Tis thus with man : his bitter griefs and woes Still gather lound him, while ha lives, -tiU Jb.e Bo lost amid the dark waves of eternity !

I.gaza with heavenly rapture on the scene That lias unfolded to my wond'ring eyes ; The glittering stars, the moon, pale and serene, That wanders slowly through yon summer skies! Yon distant mountains, whose dark summits rise In hoary grandeur, tow'ring to the sky, That seem to look down proadly and despise The grovelling world that far beneath doth lie, And heaven's Btorms and tempests doalike defyj

IV.-Cold-hearted sceptic, wheresoe'er thou art, Who look'st on all thou seest with a doubtingeye, Such suenes might teach thy unbelieving heart To own the presence of the Deity. How couM'st thou look into yon starry sky, Where countless worlds in light and beauty roll. And Nature's Great Creator still deny? Those burning stars might tell thy darken'd soul Thai all is ruled by God's omnipotent control.

V. Hark ! from yon vale beneath : it is the sound Of chapel hells inviting all to prayer ! A deep solemnity is cost ai'ound As ix. floats in echoes through the evening air. If aught there be on earth can fancy bear To heiven, it ib theehanns of such a scene ; When conscious nature seems thy thoughts to To muse in solitude, alone, unseen, [share Lost to thy cares, forgetting they had ever been.

Oh, lovely Nature, fchou hast charms for me Through all the varying changes of the year, In tempest or in calm, on land or sea, Tiion art the solace of my wand'rings here J 'T'vas thou who firsf taught me to love, revere 'The all-creating power that gave thee birth, And fixed in heaven each eternal sphere That i oils in glory round our mother earth. Filling the boundless realms of space with light and mirth.

JAQUES.

Dunedin,