William Baxter Address to the Stars (1853)

FROM

THE

MILLENNIAL HARBINGER:

FOURTH SERIES.

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VOL. III.] BETHANY, VA. OCTOBER, 1853. [NO. X.
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A D D R E S S   T O   T H E   S T A R S.

Lights of the upper sky! whose rays
Fall on our earth with chastened light,
You to my fancy's eye appear
Like jewels on the brow of night,
When her dark mantle is unfurled
In grandeur o'er a sleeping world.

Gems of the bright expanse on high,
That azure vault seems all your own,
Where you your silent vigils keep,
Near the Creator's wondrous throne;
Whence ye can look to earth's dark clod,
And light the dwelling place of God.

Earth once has heard your thrilling songs,
When, from your dwellings in the skies,
At her uprising ye began
Your lofty swelling harmonies;
Her natal song ye sweetly sung,
As she from night and chaos sprung.

The old Chaldean gazed with awe
Upon your bright and sparkling spheres,
And traced as on a mystic scroll,
The mysteries of future years;
And deemed he saw some wondrous name
Writ in your characters of flame.

The seaman, who first boldly dared
To leave his native shore behind,
Guided by you, soon learned to scorn
The billows and the raging wind;
Yours was the chart which marked his way
Across old Ocean's billowy spray.

One from your train in heaven's high dome,
Once left its dwelling in the skies,
And lo! it points the shepherds where
The lowly son of Mary lies,
When first Christ laid aside his crown,
And to this guilty world came down.

Since then the Star of Bethlehem,
Outshines by far the glorious throng,
Which woke their sweetest, loftiest strain,
To chant creation's natal song;
O may thy radiance still increase,
Thou Star of Hope, thou Star of Peace.

WM. BAXTER.      

[The Millennial Harbinger (October 1853): 600.]

ABOUT THE ELECTRONIC EDITION

      William Baxter's "Address to the Stars" was first published in The Millennial Harbinger, Fourth Series, Vol. 3, No. 10, October 1853. The electronic version of the poem has been produced from the College Press reprint (1976) of The Millennial Harbinger, ed. Alexander Campbell (Bethany, VA: A. Campbell, 1853), p. 600.

      Addenda and corrigenda are earnestly solicited.

Ernie Stefanik
Derry, PA

Created 21 June 1998.
Updated 28 June 2003.

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