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WRITTEN ON SEEING AN ECLIPSE OF THE MOON.
O GENTLE night's resplendent queen.
Of fair and placid brow;
Whither has fled thy smile serene,
And where thy beauty now?
A black'ning shade deforms thine eye,
A curtain dark and base;
Sad emblem of the spots that dim
Our own imperfect race.
But, Planet, in a distant sphere
Where some, perchance, may gaze,
Thy visage still is pure and clear,
And unobscur'd thy rays.
And thus there is a better land,
Remote from cloud or strife,
Where constant virtue shines unstain'd,
And free from mists of life.
