“MUSINGS AT TWILIGHT.

BY LIZZIE WARE.

Tell me, thou bright and shining star,

What is thy mission from afar?

Why shinest thou so sweetly on,

Till night shades deepen and are gone?

Dost thou in yonder realms of light

Thy vigil keep o’er silent night?

Or hast thou still some brighter spell,

‘Round which charmed Fancy fain would dwell?

Methinks upon each struggling beam

Some gentle charm was traced unseen,

Which, o’er the gathering gloom of night,

Threw halos of celestial light—

A charm that draws with unknown power

Some wearied mind at twilight hour,

To mark, in thy fair course on high,

Man’s own eternal destiny.

Like as some sailor, tempest-tossed,

When Faith seems gone and Hope nigh lost,

Hails through the gloom that hovers o’er

The light-house on the distant shore,

So e’en some traveler on life’s sea

Looks up at once to Heaven and thee,

And hails thee through the bursting storm,

His beacon herald of the morn.

Then from thine azure throne above

Shine on, bright messenger of love!

And when dark shadows vail life’s ev’n,

Be thou a guiding star to heav’n!”

Reference Data:

The Ladies' Repositiry, Vol. 19, by Methodist Episcopla Church, General Conference, 1859, page 432