Stars, that on your wondrous way
Travel through the evening sky,
Is there nothing you can say
To such a little child as I?
Tell me, for I long to know,
Who has made you sparkle so?
Yes, methinks I hear you say,
"Child of mortal race attend;
While we run our wondrous way,
Listen; we would be your friend;
Teaching you that name Divine,
By whose mighty word we shine.
"Child, as truly as we roll
Through the dark and distant sky,
You have an immortal soul,
Born to live when we shall die.
Suns and planets pass away:
Spirits never can decay.
"When some thousand years at most,
All their little time have spent,
One by one our sparkling host
Shall forsake the firmament.
We shall from our glory fall;
You must live beyond us all.
"Yes, and God, who bade us roll -
God, who hung us in the sky,
Stoops to watch an infant's soul
With a condescending eye;
And esteems it dearer far-
More in value than a star!
"Oh, then, while your breath is given,
Let it rise in fervant prayer,
And beseech the God of heaven
To receive your spirit there,
Like a living star to blaze,
Ever to your Saviour's praise."
