The City Lights, by Lucy Larcom – Poems

Under the stars the houses are awake;
Up comes no sound, my silent clock breaks.
The night hid the street, with all its heterogeneous landscapes;
Kilometers away, the city lights shine:

Stars that shine softly in a lower sky,
Dearer than the unexplored glories on high;
Homely stars, which, like eyes, shine in the darkness,
With a human tremor every spark oscillates.

Bright lamps above and twinkling lamps below;
The remote and strange splendor, the familiar glow:
One Eye, looking down from the dome of creation,
He sees in both the windows of his children’s house.

Who has housing there, on the avenues of space?
Whose clear torches light in the vague sky?
They are holding candles, we, lost, to guide,
spiritual pioneers, who recently left our side?

Never drops an answer from these unknown worlds:
However, no ray shines alone.
Hints of heaven shine upward through our earthly nights;
Trembling with pathos are the city lights:-

Trembling with pathos of a half-told story:
Through him hope shines, burning low and pale,
He will achieve perfect perfection like the sun:
Broken rays will mingle, earth and sky will be one.