TWO beauteous pleiads once were seen to riseAbove the horizon of earthly spheres,And as if wrought upon by the same spell,Moved in one orbit of delicious light;And as they passed upon their shining way,Admiring eyes were turned to mark their course,And elevated thoughts filled every heart,At sight of two such lovely, pleasing orbs,Whose tender and commingling glory seemedCreated only to uplift the soul,And keep it free from earthly things.Appreciative minds expressed the joyTheir light afforded, in sweet words of praise;And smiles, and kind, approving glances, toldHow much of living beauty dwells in love.But, ah! the scene too lovely was to last,—Too glorious for the test of sordid earth;And ere they reached the zenith of their course,The bright meridian beams that wrapt their formsIn roseate folds of love's effusive lightWere riven by a power unseen, yet feltIn the convulsive elements that shookAnd trembled 'neath the weight of gathering gloomWhich shrouded in oblivion's night each rayOf those sweet glory-beams of living sight,That erst had shone so tenderly and bright,And hurled between them dark and angry clouds,Whose black-wreathed drapery now their beauty shrouds,And hides from earthly gaze the buried flame,Disparted, yet in glowing warmth the same.One eye alone beholds the hidden sparkThat lives and glows beneath the covering dark;And though the veil of deep surrounding nightMay keep, for aye, concealed from mortal sightThe soft effulgence of those parted stars,—And though obtrusive gloom their beauty mars,Yet He who formed and gave their kindred light,Will yet, in one, their destinies unite.
