Or seen the star of Hesper bright And now through gloomy woods we go, I view the landscape stretch'd around; Where Danger sits with rugged brow While thou, Nymph, dost lead the way. By thee, the trav'ller quits the strand, And the parting bark ascends. Now where icy mounts appear Where while the gelid north winds sweep, Lo, frozen by their stern commands, Rough rocks crown'd with constant snows, Up the steep ascent we climb, Now see the distant light recede, Dimmer still at every tread! Far we leave the cheerful day To view what scenes these deeps display; A constellation near the south pole. -Now no light the cavern knows, I view the high arch'd rocks outspread. Varying colours there I view* Thou didst inspire the saget to tread *In many subterraneous caves the water oozes through the top and hangs there in drops, which, when a light is carried into the cavern, exhibit all the colours of the rainbow. + Pliny. Marking the precepts in my mind Let not these thy steps betray, L ADDRESS TO THE EVENING STAR, Written just before the time of its disappearing, July 1796. ONCE more beneath thy trembling ray, Now fading in the western sky, The bat flits slowly through the air; And now, quite quench'd each solar beam, *The whip-poor-will. + The firefly. |