Classic Poem

Night followed close the passing step of day,
And chased its crimson-coloured light away;
The far off countless vigils of the gloom,
Began their lurid brightness to assume. —
Delightfully transparent is their hue,
And mellow rays dart through the enamelled blue;
While from a corner of the great expanse,
The modest moon seems doubting to advance.

Now happy souls of feeling, truth, and love,
Within yon hall their kindred bosoms prove;
Enjoying others' jests and others' smiles,
And pleasing Time with fondest magic wiles.
But, hark! a voice falls on their ravished ears,
Which calls them forth to view what strange appears,
Spread o'er the canopy, with aspect rare,
Dazzling the eyesight with its vivid glare.

Like glory stretched along the starry zone,
The novel meteor resplendent shone, —
As if to charm the Poets' souls, and raise
Their philosophic and harmonious lays
To heaven, and bid their high pathetic lore
Praise him who rules that nature they adore;
Oblivious not, whilst viewing things of earth.
The Deity that summons them to birth.

And whilst it dashed its radiant vivid glow.
From zenith high unto the nadir low;
And wrapt in fairy spell our hemisphere.
And silvered high the floating clouds appear. —
Then eyeballs flashing with prophetic sight,
Reflected back the lustre of its light,
And gazed with admiration on the scene,
Amazed what the strange visitant could mean.

Its brilliant, secret, and fantastic light,
Perished the sable curtain of the night;
And sate in radiance on the hills and trees,
Mirrored with brightness in the briny seas. —
Like thousand Irises together joined,
Or all the Satellites in one combined;
Or northern Borealis just begun
To dance their waltzes on the sunken sun!