Felicia Hemans in The New Monthly Magazine Volume 42 1834/A Thought at Sunset

by Felicia Hemans

For other versions of this work, see Records of Passing Thought. XIV. A Thought at Sunset.

The New Monthly Magazine, Volume 42, Page 17

XIV.
A Thought at Sunset.

Still that last look is solemn—though thy rays,
    O Sun! to-morrow will give back, we know,
    The joy to Nature's heart. Yet through the glow
Of clouds that mantle thy decline, our gaze
Tracks thee with love half fearful: and in days
    When Earth too much adored thee, what a swell
Of mournful passion, deepening mighty lays,
    Told how the dying bade thy light farewell;
O Sun of Greece! O glorious festal sun!
Lost, lost! for them thy golden hours were done,
    And darkness lay before them. Happier far
Are we, not thus to thy bright wheels enchained,
Not thus for thy last parting unsustained,
    Heirs of a purer day, with its unsetting star.