The Night Watch

The Night Watch

A lonely moorland stretching far
Beneath the stars’ eternal light;
A sentry standing there alone
Vigilant, peering thro’ the night.

A meteor shoots adown the sky;
A wild-bird wings across the moor;
Alert, the sentry doth prepare-
Too late! a shot; and all is o’er.

So standeth Faith within the night
With face alight and vigil-drawn,
Thro’ all the peril-haunted hour
Watching for Thought beyond the dawn.

So standeth Hope upon her peaks
Amid the avalanch of Life,
Amid the meteor-showers of Death
Watching for Love beyond the strife.