Classic Poem

Oh , earth! that liest still to-night
Beneath the starlit skies,
How splendid dost thou loom and bright
To planetary eyes!

But if some storm-cloud, vast and dark,
Should hide thee from the day;
If through blind night no faintest spark
Should force its feeble way,

No other would thy face appear,
Than on this cloudless sky,
Though all the world should quake with fear,
Though all our race should die.

Great Universe! too vast thou art,
Too changeless and too far,
Dull grows the brain and chill the heart
Before the nearest star.

Oh, kindly earth! upon thy breast
For ever let me lie,
Wrapt round with thy eternal rest,
But gazing on the sky.