Sunbury American

SELECT POETRY.
THE STAR.
BY GEO. D. PRENTICE.
Those beaming stars! what are they? I have dreams
That they were blossoms on the Tree of life,
Or glory flung back from the outspread wings
Of God's archangel—or that yon blue skies,
With all their gorgeous blazonry of gems,
Were a bright banner waving o'er the earth
From the fair wall of Heaven! -And I have sat
And drank their gushing glory, till I felt
Their flush electric trembling with the deep
And slow pulsations down the living wire
Of chainless passion—and my every pulse
Was beating high, as if a spring were there
To buoy me up where I might ever roam
'Mid the unfathomed vastness of the sky.
And dwell with those high stars, and see the light
Pouring down upon the blessed earth, like dew
From the bright urn of Naiads!
Beautiful stars!
What are they? There is in my heart of hearts
A fount that heaves beneath you, like the deep
Beneath the glories of a midnight moon!
And list—your Eden tones are floating now
Around me like an element—so low,
So wildly beautiful, I almost dream
That ye are there the living harp of God,
O'er which the morning winds of Eden stray,
And wake such tones of mystic minstrelsy
As well nigh might wander down to the dim world
To fashion dreams of Heaven!—Peal on-peal on,
Nature's high anthem—for my life has caught
A portion of your purity and power.
And seems but as sweet and glorious tone
Or wild star-music!
Blessed, blessed things!
Ye are in Heaven and on Earth. My soul
Even with the whirlwind's rush, can wander off
To your immortal, but it must fall
Like your ancient Pleiad from its height.
To light its new-caught glories in the dust!
The earth is beautiful—I love its wildness of spring flowers,
its bright clouds,
The majesty of mountains, and the dread
Magnificence of ocean—for they come
Like visions to my heart—but when I look
On your unfading loveliness, I feel
Like a lost infant gazing on its home,
And weep to die, and come where you repose
Upon your boundless Heaven, like parted souls
On an eternity of blessedness.