POETRY.
And gazed on the flaring town Men rushed here, and men rushed there, And the stars looked coldly down.
I sate at my casement window, And gazed on the starlit sky : Silent their flight through the noiseless night, And a train dashed screaming by.
O din of a world too near me 0 peace of a life too far !
As in vision I seem to hear ye, Thou city, and thou lone star.
From the city a roar ascending, It stunned as it hurtled by, Wild grief and wild laughter blending, The widow's, the worldling's cry : With the passionate sob of sorrow, And the passionate shriek for gold ; With the first low wail of the infant's breath, And the last faint sigh of the old.
And the Star I 0, the Star ! What said it P I listened and caught the chime That they sing as they move in their constant groove, From beginning to end of time ; 'Of a law, and a course foreordered ; Not freedom, but God's control ; And nothing they know of the lawless woe, Or the weight of a burden'd soul.
But as messengers bearing tidings, They post on their pathway sure ; With speed never hasting, and fire never wasting, For ever serene and pure. Then I turned from my casement window, And I prayed for the peace Divine : For the city is rife with jars and strife, But the way of the star be mine !
For the good here on earth too short is ; We dream, and it will not stay : But somewhere the dream is more than a dream :
EssAvuu.—In the poem, "Andy Byrne," published last week, in stanza 1, line 2, for " Wan aioh," read " Aioh wan."
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