Classic Poem

COMPOSED AND RECITED WHILE ON A TOUR WITH A PARTY FROM THE INSTITUTION THROUGH THE INTERIOR OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, IN SEPTEMBER , 1843.

The deep blue sky, serenely bright,
On which your eyes with rapture gaze,
Where stars unveil their mellow light,
And God his wondrous power displays;

The gushing fount, whose glassy breast
Reflects the parting hues of day,
Nature, in robes of verdure dressed,
The opening buds, the flow'rets gay;

The lofty hills, the greenwood bowers, —
Though fair these rural scenes appear,
On them to gaze must ne'er be ours;
These orbs, alas! they cannot cheer.

But, oh! instruction's nobler light
Sheds on our mental eye its ray;
We hail its beams with new delight,
And bid each gloomy thought away.

To us, our God kind friends has given,
Whose names we ever shall revere;
Recorded in the book of heaven,
Shall their munificence appear.

'Twas they who reared the happy home,
Beneath whose peaceful roof we dwell;
No more unheeded now we roam, —
Our lips the notes of gladness swell.

But while our sunny moments fly,
Unsullied by a shade of care,
For those like us bereft we sigh,
And wish they, too, our joys might share.

Is there no tender parenThere,
Who oft in sorrow weeps alone,
For the sweet child he holds so dear,
O'er whom a rayless night is thrown?

Then place amid our youthful band,
That loved one cherished long by thee;
There will her intellect expand,
And her young heart beat light and free.

There will her fingers learn to trace
The page by inspiration given;
The page of sacred truth and grace —
The star that guides her soul to heaven.