Moral Pieces, in Prose and Verse/Written on Seeing an Eclipse of the Moon

by Lydia Sigourney

WRITTEN ON SEEING AN ECLIPSE OF THE MOON.

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.