Classic Poem

The silver moon shines, and the diamond stars twinkle,
The night soars o'er land and o'er main;
The Book of Creation before me is open—
I read it—and read it again.

I read and repeat the old, marvellous stories—
A voice I hear answering me:
“My people shall be as the stars of the heaven,
As sand on the shore of the sea!”

Oh, heavenly Father, not one of thy sayings
Has ever proved vain or untrue;
Thy will on the earth, as thy will in the heaven
Must come, when its season is due.

And half of thy promise has long been accomplished:
Thy people became as the sand,
As gloomy and trampled, as humble and wind-tossed
As scattered on sea and on land.

Yea, half of Thy promise has long been accomplished
Thy people is trodden as sod;
But what of the beauteous, the lofty, the shining,
The heavenly stars, O my God?