English Poetry III: From Tennyson to Whitman.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
774. The Light of Stars
T
And sinking silently,
All silently, the little moon
Drops down behind the sky.
But the cold light of stars;
And the first watch of night is given
To the red planet Mars.
The star of love and dreams?
Oh no! from that blue tent above
A hero’s armor gleams.
When I behold afar,
Suspended in the evening skies,
The shield of that red star.
And smile upon my pain;
Thou beckonest with thy mailed hand,
And I am strong again.
But the cold light of stars;
I give the first watch of the night
To the red planet Mars.
He rises in my breast,
Serene, and resolute, and still,
And calm, and self-possessed.
That readest this brief psalm,
As one by one thy hopes depart,
Be resolute and calm.
And thou shalt know erelong,
Know how sublime a thing it is
To suffer and be strong.