This star sinks below the horizon in certain latitudes. I watched it sink lower and lower every night, till at last it disappeared. A star has left the kindling sky -- A lovely northern light -- How many planets are on high, But that has left the night! I miss its bright familiar face; It was a friend to me, Associate with my native place And those beyond the sea. It rose upon our English sky, Shone o'er our English land, And brought back many a loving eye And many a gentle hand. It seem'd to answer to my thought, It called the past to mind, And with its welcome presence brought All I had left behind. The voyage, it lights no longer, ends Soon on a foreign shore; How can I but recall the friends Whom I may see no more? Fresh from the pain it was to part -- How could I bear the pain? Yet strong the omen in my heart That says -- We meet again. Meet with a deeper, dearer love; For absence shows the worth Of all from which we then remove, Friends, home, and native earth. Thou lovely polar star! mine eyes Still turned the first on thee, Till I have felt a sad surprise That none look'd up with me. But thou hast sunk below the wave, Thy radiant place unknown; I seem to stand beside a grave, And stand by it alone. Farewell! -- ah, would to me were given A power upon thy light, What words upon our English heaven Thy loving rays should write! Kind messages of love and hope Upon thy rays should be; Thy shining orbit would have scope Scarcely enough for me. Oh, fancy, vain as it is fond, And little needed too; My friends! I need not look beyond My heart to look for you. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TWO POEMS FROM THE WAR: 2 by ARCHIBALD MACLEISH EPITAPH IN BALLADE FORM by FRANCOIS VILLON MY HEART'S IN THE HIGHLANDS by ROBERT BURNS LITANY by ROBERT GRANT (1785-1838) EPIGRAM: 118. ON GUT by BEN JONSON |