4 DECEMBER 1880, Page 16

POETRY.

That in the day's great glory fades ; Too fiercely bright is the full light That her pale-gleaming lamp upbraids, Before the daybreak sings a bird That stills her song ere morning light : Too loud for her is the day's stir, The woodland's thousand-tongued delight.

Ah great the honour is, to shine A light wherein no traveller errs ; And rich the prize, to rank divine Among the world's loud choristers.

But I would be that paler star, And I would be that lonelier bird ; To shine with hope, while hope's afar, And sing of love, when love's unheard. F. W. B