Mysterious Night, when the first man but knew
Thee by report, unseen, and heard thy name,
Did he not tremble for this lovely frame,
This glorious canopy of light and blue?
Yet ’neath a curtain of translucent dew,
Bathed in the rays of the great setting flame,
Hesperus with the Host of Heaven came,
And lo!—Creation widened on his view!
Who could have thought what darkness lay conceal’d
Within thy beams, O Sun? or who could find
Whilst fly, and leaf, and insect stood reveal’d
That to such endless orbs thou mad’st us blind?
Weak man, why to shun Death this anxious strife?
If light can thus deceive, wherefore not Life?