Classic Poem

Sweet and soul-composing star
Twinkling in the heavens afar, —
Who through being's lonely night
Guid'st me with unerring light,
And though clouds awhile may roll
O'er thy brightness and my soul,
Soon the vapor flits away,
And the world again is day, —

Thou, with pure, consoling beam,
Shin'st on life's unquiet stream;
And thy ray of beauty guides
O'er the dark and tossing tides,
Rising with a smiling form
From the bosom of the storm,
Till, the gloom and tempest past,
Safe we reach thy home at last.

When I weep in grief alone,
Every fond endearment flown,
When the gay world has no power
In this dark and lonely hour,
Still thy calm and lovely beam,
Bright as morning on a stream,
Drops a light upon my breast,
Hushing every pulse to rest.

Life is poor and faint below;
Never can its joy bestow
Pleasure on the pure in heart, —
They pursue a better part:
O'er this dark and turbid sea,
Hastening onward after thee,
Stayed by calms, by tempests driven,
All their hope, their aim is Heaven.