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THE NIGHT-BLOWING CEREUS.
See to life her beauties start,
Hail! thou glorious, matchless flower!
Much thou sayest to the heart,
In the solemn fleeting hour.
Hail! thou glorious, matchless flower!
Much thou sayest to the heart,
In the solemn fleeting hour.
Ere we have our homage paid,
Thou wilt bow thine head and die;
Thus our sweetest pleasures fade,
Thus our brightest blessings fly.
Thou wilt bow thine head and die;
Thus our sweetest pleasures fade,
Thus our brightest blessings fly.
Sorrow'» rugged stem, like thine,
Bears a flower thus purely bright;
Thus, when, sunny hours decline,
Friendship sheds her cheering light.
Bears a flower thus purely bright;
Thus, when, sunny hours decline,
Friendship sheds her cheering light.
Religion, too, that heavenly flower,
That joy of never-fading worth,
Waits, like thee, the darkest hour,
And then puts all her glories forth.
That joy of never-fading worth,
Waits, like thee, the darkest hour,
And then puts all her glories forth.
Then thy beauties are surpassed,
Splendid flower, that bloom'st to die;
For Friendship and Religion last,
When the morning beams on high.
Splendid flower, that bloom'st to die;
For Friendship and Religion last,
When the morning beams on high.
The Night-Blowing Cereus.
Can it be true? so fragrant and so fair,
To give thy perfume to the dews of night?
Can aught so beautiful shrink from the glare,
And fade and sicken in the coming light?
Yes, peerless flower! the heavens alone exhale
Thy fragrance; while the glittering stars attest,
And incense, wafted from the midnight gale,
Untainted rises from thy spotless breast.
Sweet emblem of that faith, which seeks, apart
From human praise, to love and work unseen;
That gives to heaven an undivided heart—
In sorrow steadfast, and in joy serene!
Anchored on God, no adverse cloud can dim;
Her eye, unaltered, still is fixed on Him!
To give thy perfume to the dews of night?
Can aught so beautiful shrink from the glare,
And fade and sicken in the coming light?
Yes, peerless flower! the heavens alone exhale
Thy fragrance; while the glittering stars attest,
And incense, wafted from the midnight gale,
Untainted rises from thy spotless breast.
Sweet emblem of that faith, which seeks, apart
From human praise, to love and work unseen;
That gives to heaven an undivided heart—
In sorrow steadfast, and in joy serene!
Anchored on God, no adverse cloud can dim;
Her eye, unaltered, still is fixed on Him!