Night thick with stars! The word infinity Is grasped by finite me, Until I think of stars that ages past Burst into meteors: and yet they cast Their rays with those of living orbs tonight. Strangely they give their light, These long-dead stars that perished when the world Was but an infant planet to be whirled About a power-mad sun. So I am one With beams of ghost stars shining on my hand, Reflecting as I stand How lights burn on although their source is dust; Persist because they must; Like Plato's wisdom; like grave Dante's dream, Staying to gleam, Though sage and poet with the dead have slept These many centuries; and men have kept Long watch to see their lights that shine afar, And proudly call them: "Deathless as a star." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE PASSOVER IN THE HOLY FAMILY (FOR A DRAWING) by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI HOARFROST by STELLA PFEIFFER BAISCH PSALM 76 by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE HONOUR'S MARTYR by EMILY JANE BRONTE HINTS FROM HORACE by GEORGE GORDON BYRON SONGS OF THE SEA CHILDREN: 32 by BLISS CARMAN |