Page:Moral Pieces in Prose and Verse.pdf/262



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.