A bright star sent a pale and quivering ray
Deep in the bosom of a flowery dell,
And every sleepless eye was turned to greet
The heavenly visitant. But there was one
On which that ray best loved to linger;
One, whose averted head, and fragile form
Seemed half to shun, and half to woo the gaze
Of that bright, heavenly thing, that nightly beamed
In all its purity thus o’er her head.
Wherefore at twilight came that glittering star
To seek the humble flower? her frail form shook,
Her mild eye filled with tears, (pearly dew drops,)
And in the liquid language of her race
Gushed forth her song.
“Ah wherefore, being of a brighter world,
Leav’st thou thy heavenly home, on earth to rove;
Fair as thou art amid the glittering throng
That pave heaven’s pathway to the courts above?
“I have no charms to lure thee from thy home;
Then wherefore comest thou in mockery nigh?
Noting the life of one, whose humble lot
Is but to bloom for one brief hour, and die.
“The beauteous rose, the garden’s boasted pride,
Bends her fair head in blushing grace before thee,
And the pale, stately lily, sister queen,
Sheds all her store of dewy fragrance o’er thee.
“While I, the scorn of those who proudly bend
In all their blushing beauty, thus to greet
One from an unknown world,—how shall I dare
To raise my glance thy holy light to meet?”
<<84>>And as she ceased, that glittering star, whose ray
Was sent to cheer her, answer’d thus her song:
“When the strong oak lies crushed by the force of
the blast,
And each forest bends as the storm rushes past,
And man shrinks with dread, when a mightier power
Hurls death and destruction o’er stronghold and tower:
“When the hand of the spoiler bears hence in his
pride
The delicate blossoms that bloomed at thy side,
And leaves their disconsolate stems to deplore
The loss of those treasures that charm thee no more:
“Then thou, gentle trembler, secure on thy stem,
Shalt escape the destruction that’s destined for them;
And thy mild, fragrant petals shed perfume around
When the king of the forest lies low on the ground.
“I am sent to watch over, and shield thee from
harm,
From the rapine of man, and the blight of the storm;
That mortals may learn in the pride of their power,
A lesson of truth from the heart of a flower.”
