Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Alfred H. Miles, ed. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.

By Selected Sonnets. V. The Stars

Henry Ellison (1811–1880)

THE STARS come forth, a silent hymn of praise

To the great God, and shining every one,

Make up the glorious harmony, led on

By Hesperus their Chorister; each plays

A part in the grand concert with its rays,

And yet so stilly, modestly, as none

Claimed to himself ought of the good thus done

By all together, mingled in soft blaze.

Each has his path, there moves unerringly,

Nor seeks for empty fame, do we as they.

Let each soul lend its utmost light, each play

In the grand concert of Humanity

Its destined part;—then mankind on its way

Shall move as surely as those stars on high.