Alone in the Southern Heaven,
We gleam like a cross on high,
More bright than the Pleiad seven --
The lords of the stars of the sky.
And Orion, though belted in glory,
And Aldebaran's ancient blaze;
And the far dim systems hoary,
Deep sunk with their nebulous haze--
Are not more mighty in power,
Than we, as our sacred light
Shines calm in the silent hour
Of the solemn and deep midnight.
When the children of men are sleeping,
"Star speaketh unto star,"
In rhythmical melody sweeping,
Solemnly sweet afar.
And they sing of light's wondrous dawning,
As the glow of His gaze sublime,
In creation's glorious morning,
Gave birth to the beings of time.
When the children of men's salvation
Was wrought out in Palestine,
His cross grew a sign to each nation,
Of a hope and a future divine.
But our Heaven hung symbol was never
Beheld by a Christian eye,
Till Iberia's gaze saw our wondrous rays
In the deeps of the southern sky.
Yet we glowed through Eternity's ages,
Undimmed down the vistas of time,
Aloft on night's heavenly pages,
As a symbol of futures sublime.
As the Mariner's Star sunk slowly,
Deep hid down the northern night,
We rose like an omen holy
On his wearied and anxious sight;
And shone on the awe-struck Spaniard,
As his lonely caravel,
With storm-bleached shroud and lanyard,
Surged up the mountain swell
Of the shoreless Southern Ocean;
And the gleam of our unknown rays
Awoke all his soul's devotion,
In an outburst of prayer and praise.
For we rose on his sight as the symbol
Of a life beyond the grave,
And a heavenly goal for each wanderer's soul,
'Midst the wastes of that wild lone wave.
When the spirits of those whom Heaven
Reclaims from their mortal world
Hath new vision unto them given,
With their angel wings unfurled --
As they soar with the seraph spirits
Through the depths of the ether space,
'Midst the stars which each soul inherits,
Of the children of heavenly race --
How they will see with wonder,
And awe, and reverent love,
The planet orbs sinking under,
And suns rising bright above.
As their earth grows dimly duller,
A speck in the lower night --
And o'er them brightening fuller,
With fathomless seas of light --
Each gorgeous constellation
Glows in their raptured eyes,
Fresh from life's dull probation,
'Midst luminous loftier skies.
Then shall they see, with a tender
And solemn deep joy, the blaze
Of the clear transcendant splendour
Of our clustering stars, and their rays --
Ruby, and purple, and golden,
Gleaming a myriad fold,
More than all jewels beholden
By them in earth's visions of old.
For though we but seem unto mortal
Four stars, like a hierophic sign,
We show but the mystical portal
To galaxies yet more divine,--
Whose clustering sunshines of glory --
System on system afar --
Undimmed through antiquity hoary,
With many an opaline star,
Burns bright on the broad brow of Heaven,
'Midst its mightiest diadems,
As we circle around the "great seven,"
Like His cross, set with worlds for our gems.
First published in The Australian Town and Country Journal, 14 August 1875
Author reference site: Austlit
See also.
We gleam like a cross on high,
More bright than the Pleiad seven --
The lords of the stars of the sky.
And Orion, though belted in glory,
And Aldebaran's ancient blaze;
And the far dim systems hoary,
Deep sunk with their nebulous haze--
Are not more mighty in power,
Than we, as our sacred light
Shines calm in the silent hour
Of the solemn and deep midnight.
When the children of men are sleeping,
"Star speaketh unto star,"
In rhythmical melody sweeping,
Solemnly sweet afar.
And they sing of light's wondrous dawning,
As the glow of His gaze sublime,
In creation's glorious morning,
Gave birth to the beings of time.
When the children of men's salvation
Was wrought out in Palestine,
His cross grew a sign to each nation,
Of a hope and a future divine.
But our Heaven hung symbol was never
Beheld by a Christian eye,
Till Iberia's gaze saw our wondrous rays
In the deeps of the southern sky.
Yet we glowed through Eternity's ages,
Undimmed down the vistas of time,
Aloft on night's heavenly pages,
As a symbol of futures sublime.
As the Mariner's Star sunk slowly,
Deep hid down the northern night,
We rose like an omen holy
On his wearied and anxious sight;
And shone on the awe-struck Spaniard,
As his lonely caravel,
With storm-bleached shroud and lanyard,
Surged up the mountain swell
Of the shoreless Southern Ocean;
And the gleam of our unknown rays
Awoke all his soul's devotion,
In an outburst of prayer and praise.
For we rose on his sight as the symbol
Of a life beyond the grave,
And a heavenly goal for each wanderer's soul,
'Midst the wastes of that wild lone wave.
When the spirits of those whom Heaven
Reclaims from their mortal world
Hath new vision unto them given,
With their angel wings unfurled --
As they soar with the seraph spirits
Through the depths of the ether space,
'Midst the stars which each soul inherits,
Of the children of heavenly race --
How they will see with wonder,
And awe, and reverent love,
The planet orbs sinking under,
And suns rising bright above.
As their earth grows dimly duller,
A speck in the lower night --
And o'er them brightening fuller,
With fathomless seas of light --
Each gorgeous constellation
Glows in their raptured eyes,
Fresh from life's dull probation,
'Midst luminous loftier skies.
Then shall they see, with a tender
And solemn deep joy, the blaze
Of the clear transcendant splendour
Of our clustering stars, and their rays --
Ruby, and purple, and golden,
Gleaming a myriad fold,
More than all jewels beholden
By them in earth's visions of old.
For though we but seem unto mortal
Four stars, like a hierophic sign,
We show but the mystical portal
To galaxies yet more divine,--
Whose clustering sunshines of glory --
System on system afar --
Undimmed through antiquity hoary,
With many an opaline star,
Burns bright on the broad brow of Heaven,
'Midst its mightiest diadems,
As we circle around the "great seven,"
Like His cross, set with worlds for our gems.
First published in The Australian Town and Country Journal, 14 August 1875
Author reference site: Austlit
See also.
