Classic Poem

Thou central Eye of God, whose lidless ball
Is vision all around, dispensing heat,
And light and life, and regulating all
With its pervading glance,—how calm and sweet
Is thine unclouded setting! Thou dost greet,
With parting smiles, the earth; night's shadows fall,
But long where thou hast sunk shall splendours meet,
And, lingering there, thy glories past recall

Oh! may my heart, like thee, unspotted, clear,
Be as a sun to all within its sphere;
And when beneath the earth I seek my doom,
May I with smiling calmness disappear,
And friendship's twilight, hovering o'er my tomb,
Still bid my memory survive and bloom