Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1900.djvu/774

 642. The Fallen Star

A star is gone! a star is gone! There is a blank in Heaven; One of the cherub choir has done His airy course this even.

He sat upon the orb of fire That hung for ages there, And lent his music to the choir That haunts the nightly air.

But when his thousand years are pass'd, With a cherubic sigh He vanish'd with his car at last, For even cherubs die!

Hear how his angel-brothers mourn— The minstrels of the spheres— Each chiming sadly in his turn And dropping splendid tears.

The planetary sisters all Join in the fatal song, And weep this hapless brother's fall, Who sang with them so long.

But deepest of the choral band The Lunar Spirit sings, And with a bass-according hand Sweeps all her sullen strings.

From the deep chambers of the dome Where sleepless Uriel lies, His rude harmonic thunders come Mingled with mighty sighs.