The Shining of the Earliest Star

The shin­ing of the ear­li­est star

Unveiled from pur­ple shades afar

That bright­en o’er the brow of night

Can bring no cheer

amid its beams

More bright than through this pro­mise gleams:

At ev­en­ing time there shall be light.

There shall be light—O wan­der­er! say

Groping through tears thy wea­ry way

Hath hope in sha­dows tak­en flight?

There shines a love-star o’er the tomb

And sing the an­gels through the gloom:

At ev­en­ing time there shall be light.

And seest thou

through the dy­ing day

That bright­er shines the love­ly ray

As dark­er grows the com­ing night?

And hear­est thou

through the twi­light calm

The sil­very sweet­ness of this psalm

At ev­en­ing time there shall be light?

As erst around the Bet­hel Stone

A gleam of Heav­en’s own glo­ry shone

The pil­grim saw

in vi­sions bright

Down star­ry steeps a band des­cend

And ser­aph tones in chor­us blend

At ev­en­ing time

and there was light.

And as the Ma­gi turned their way

Toward the in­fant Sav­ior lay

And one pure star had crowned the night

Methinks o’er plains of far Ju­dea

His her­alds’ voic­es sound­ed clear

At ev­en­ing time there shall be light.

Untouched by earth’s in­sen­sate things

We hear the sound of ang­el wings

Down droop­ing in their dis­tant flight—

We see the sha­dows melt away

With sil­ve­ry voic­es soft­ly say

At ev­en­ing time there shall be light.

No frown­ing dark­ness of the grave

No mur­murs of the sul­len wave

Our feet have touched

can bring af­fright

As

float­ing from the star­ry spheres

Sounds the glad hymn of end­less years

At ev­en­ing time there shall be light.