THIS EARTH, IT IS ALSO A STAR

WHERE the singers of Saturn find tongue,

Where the Galaxy's lovers embrace,

Our world and its beauty are sung!

They lean from their casements to trace

If our planet still spins in its place;

Faith fables the thing that we are,

And Fantasy laughs and gives chase:

This earth, it is also a star!

Round the sun, that is fixed, and hung

For a lamp in the darkness of space

We are whirled, we are swirled, we are flung;

Singing and shining we race

And our light on the uplifted face

Of dreamer or prophet afar

May fall as a symbol of grace:

This earth, it is also a star!

Looking out where our planet is swung

Doubt loses his writhen grimace,

Dry hearts drink the gleams and are young;—

Where agony's boughs interlace

His Garden some Jesus may pace,

Lifting, the wan avatar,

His soul to this light as a vase!

This earth, it is also a star!

Great spirits in sorrowful case

Yearn to us through the vapors that bar:

Canst think of that, soul, and be base?—

This earth, it is also a star!