Ye fadeless flowers that gem the fields of Space,
Unseen by mortal eyes what time the Day
Bathes earth and sky in floods of living light;
Whose golden petals to the night unfold,
All tremulous with beauty, as if stirred
By airs from Heaven, or fanned by seraph wings;
Ye glittering sands upon a tideless shore;
Footprints by angels made in sapphire walks;
Caskets that shrine the loved and lost of earth;
Bright mysteries that fill the soul with thought,
Men worshipped ye of old, and read their lives
By your mild light, and heathen eyes have gazed
With holy wonder on your loveliness.
Beneath your peaceful splendor I will bow,
And ye shall be to me the types of God,
"The broad and jewelled floor of his abode,"
My shining home; and when the Angel Death
Shall come to lead me there, O, may it be
In the hushed night, at such an hour as this,
The heavens as cloudless, and your crystal fires
As glorious as now, that they may light
The dusky valley for my fainting feet.
