CEREUS. 
125 
Yes, peerless flower! the heavens alone exhale 
Thy fragrance, while the glittering stars attest; 
And incense, wafted from the midnight gale, 
Untainted rises from thy spotless breast. 
Sweet emblem of that faith, which seeks, apart 
From human praise, to love and work unseen ; 
That gives to Heaven an undivided heart — 
In sorrow steadfast, and in joy serene 1 
Anchor’d on God, no adverse cloud can dim; 
Her eye, unalter’d, still is fix’d on Him! 
TO THE NIGHT-BLOWING CEREUS. 
H. I. JOHNS. 
Flower of the Night! mysteriously awake 
When Earth’s green tribes repose, why stealthful thus 
Comest thou to meet the stars — unfolding soft, 
Beneath their tranquil ray, thy peerless form ? 
Flower of the night! chaster than Alpine snows — 
Unvisited by aught save Heaven’s sweet breath—■ 
Why hide thy loveliness from mortal eye, 
Why pour thy fragrance to the unconscious night? 
— Thou art, alas! too exquisitely fair, 
Too pure for Earth’s corrupted denizens! 
Yet not in vain thy odoriferous breath, 
And beauty all unearthly : He who thus 
Hath fashion’d thee a chaste and midnight gem; 
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