The Evening Star.
[Dr. John Leyden.—Dr. Leyden was the friend of Sir Walter Scott, and of great service to him in collecting his border ballads. He latterly distinguished himself as an oriental scholar, and died in Java in 1811.]
How sweet thy modest light to view,
Fair star! to love and lovers dear;
While trembling on the falling dew,
Like beauty shining through the tear.
Or hanging o'er that mirror-stream
To mark each image trembling there,
Thou seem'st to smile with softer gleam
To see thy lovely face so fair.
Though, blazing o'er the arch of night,
The moon thy timid beams outshine:
As far as thine each starry light—
Her rays can never vie with thine.
Thine are the soft enchanting hours
When twilight lingers on the plain,
And whispers to the closing flow'rs,
That soon the sun will rise again.
Thine is the breeze that, murmuring bland
As music, wafts the lover's sigh;
And bids the yielding heart expand
In lore's delicious ecstasy.
Fair star! though I be doom'd to prove
That rapture's tears are mix'd with pain;
Ah! still I feel 'tis sweet to love,—
But sweeter to be lov'd again.