Hast thou beheld a night of burning stars?
With ev'n such silent eyes does GOD behold
The world and all its sorrows from of old,
The pangs that torture, and the strife that jars,
The abounding evil that infects and mars
The glories of our being manifold.
Hast thou not cursed those eyes of splendid gold,
That pity not our sufferings and our wars?
But who can tell the love deep-hidden there.
Or doubt that gladsome day shall follow dark?
And as we know the sun's rekindled spark
Shall flood the earth again with radiance fair,
So may the silent Power that seems so stark
At last for man some glorious dawn prepare.