J.G. Salis-Seewis: “Morning”

“Specimens of the Choicest Lyrical Productions of the Most Celebrated German Poets from Klopstock to the Present Time.”  Translator:  Mary Anne Burt.  1856.

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Morning

Nature is veiled in twilight’s mystic dyes;
As lamp within a temple, thus doth glow
Yon morning star:  the beech-tree’s branches rise,
As from a vapourous cupola below.
Sol’s ray illumes the rocky turrets nigh,
Resembling roses that on ruins lie.
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For whom are offerings of the dew-gemmed fields?
Perfumes that high, toward silvery vapour rove!
Incense are ye, luxuriant Nature yields
To God, from treasures fair, in wood and grove.
Heaven is God’s altar:  Morning-star divine!
Thou’rt but a spark from that celestial shrine.
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In Morning’s blush that casts a roseate light
O’er oceans, and o’er glaciers’ icy walls,
That lustre of God’s throne which fades from sight,
Cheers man, and brightly on the grave-stone falls;
It hallows pious hope, and through Death’s gloom,
Eternity’s clear sun-beams pierce the tomb.
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We pilgrims rove beneath the matin-ray
Of Immortality, our polar-star.
The time when Innocence goes not astray.
Dawneth beyond the tomb, and is not far.
Redeemer, and Almighty God — thy light
Dispels Death’s gloom, and Error’s shades of night.
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