HESPER! sweet Aphrodite's golden light! Hesper! bright ornament of swarthy Night, Inferior to the Moon's clear sheen, as far As thou outshinest every other star; Dear Hesper, hail! and give thy light to me, Leading the festive shepherd company. For her new course to-day began the Moon, And is already set—O much too soon! 'Tis not for impious theft abroad I stir, Nor to way-lay the nightly traveller: I love; and thou, bright star of love! shouldst lend The lover light—his helper and his friend. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE SOUL'S DEFIANCE by LAVINIA STONE STODDARD TO THE REV. F.D. MAURICE by ALFRED TENNYSON THE CRUSADERS' MARCH by WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN THE WELCOME by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN YEARNING by HARRY RANDOLPH BLYTHE ACROSS THE INTERVALE by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON MASQUE AT THE MARRIAGE OF THE LORD HAYES: THE MASQUE-WRITER'S APOLOGY by THOMAS CAMPION |