White, Joseph Blanco, "Night and Death." in The Bijou; (London: William Pickering , 1828)
   
      
         
            
               The Bijou; 
               or Annual of Literature and the Arts
            
            compiled by William Fraser
            
            
               
                  William Pickering
               
               London
            
            1828
            
               
                  p. 16
               
            
         
      
      
         
             16 
            
               Night and Death
            
            
               By the Rev. Joseph
                  Blanco White
            
            
               Dedicated to S.T. Coleridge, Esq. By his sincere friend, Joseph
                  Blanco White.
            
            
               MYSTERIOUS night, when the first man but knew
               Thee by report, unseen, and heard they name,
               Did he not tremble for this lovely frame,
               This glorious canopy of light and blue?
            
            
            
               Yet 'neath a curtain of translucent dew
               Bathed in the rays of the great setting flame,
               Hesperus, with the host of heaven, came,
               And lo! creation widened on his view!
            
            
               Who could have thought what darkness lay concealed
               Within thy beams, oh Sun? Or who could find,
            
            
               Whil'st fly, and leaf, and insect stood revealed,
               That to such endless orbs thou mad'st us blind?
               Weak man! Why to shun death, this anxious strife?
               If light can thus deceive, wherefore not
                     life?