The New Monthly Magazine, Volume 8, Page 526
THE LOST PLEIAD.
"Like the lost Pleiad seen no more below."—Lord Byron.
And is there glory from the Heavens departed?
—Oh, void unmark'd!—thy sisters of the sky
Still hold their place on high,
Though from its rank thine orb so long hath started,
Thou! that no more art seen of mortal eye
Hath the Night lost a gem, the regal Night?
—She wears her crown of old magnificence,
Though thou art exiled thence!
No desert seems to part those urns of light,
Midst the far depths of purple gloom intense.
They rise in joy, the starry myriads burning!
The Shepherd greets them on his mountains free,
And from the silvery sea
To them the Sailor's wakeful eye is turning;
—Unchanged they rise, they have not mourn'd for thee!
Couldst thou be shaken from thy radiant place,
Ev'n as a dew-drop from the myrtle-spray,
Swept by the wind away?
Wert thou not peopled by some glorious race,
And was there power to smite them with decay?
Why, who shall talk of Thrones, of Sceptres riven?
—It is too sad to think on what we are,
When from its height afar,
A world sinks thus! and yon majestic Heaven
Shines not the less for that one vanish'd star!F. H.
