" Shepherd! they say that a star presides
Over life? " — " 'Tis a truth, my son!
Its secrets from men the firmament hides,
But tells to some favoured one. " —
" Shepherd! they say that a link unbroken
Connects our fate with some favourite star;
What may yon shooting light betoken,
That falls, falls, and is quenched afar? "
" The death of a mortal, my son, who held
In his banqueting-hall high revel;
And his music was sweet, and his wins excelled,
Life's path seemed long and level:
No sign was given, no word was spoken,
His pleasure death comes to mar. "
" But what does yon milder light betoken,
That falls, falls, and is quenched afar? "

" 'Tis the knell of beauty! — it marks the close
Of a pure and gentle maiden;
And her cheek was warm with its bridal rose,
And her brow with its bride-wreath laden: —
The thousand hopes young love had woken
Lie crushed, and her dream is past. "
" But what can yon rapid light betoken,
That falls, falls, and is quenched so fast? "

" 'Tis the emblem, my son, of quick decay!
'Tis a rich lord's child newly born:
The cradle that holds his inanimate clay,
Gold, purple, and silk adorn;
The panders prepared through life to haunt him
Must seek some one else in his room. "
" Look, now! what means yon dismal phantom
That falls, falls, and is lost in gloom? "

" There, son! I see the guilty thought
Of a haughty statesman fail,
Who the poor man's comforts ternly sought
To plunder or curtail.
His former sycophants have cursed
Their idol's base endeavour. "
" But watch the light that now has burst,
Falls, falls, and is quenched for ever! "

" What a loss, O my son, was there!
Where shall hunger now seek relief?
The poor, who are gleaners elsewhere,
Could reap in his field full sheaf!
On the evening he died, his door
Was thronged with a weeping crowd. " —
" Look, shepherd! there's one star more
That falls, and is quenched in a croud. "

" 'Tis a monarch's star! Do thou preserve
Thy innocence, my child!
Nor from thy course appointed swerve,
But there shine calm and mild.
Of thy star, if the sterile ray
For no useful purpose shone,
At thy death, " See that star," they'd say;
" It falls! falls! is past and gone!" "