Augusta Webster

The Missing Star

WHY did the star leave the sky,
       The far, pure sky?
   Shone she not high and hallowed and fair?
   Could she not tarry her life-time there?
Why must she fall and fade?
   She had heaven nigh.
I of the earth, I would she had stayed
  In her lonely air.

Higher than love lived my star,
       My clear, cold star.
   Why must she droop to our mists below?
   Ah, for the glory of long ago!
Ah, for the pride no more!
   When she stood so far.
Would she were lost in the days before,
   In the perished glow.

Star wandered out of my light,
       Once all my light,
   Seeing the sky through a dullness of tears,
   Crying for thee to the empty years,
Where should I seek for thee
   Mid the. desert night?
Not on the earth.
Ah! the star that nears
   Has forgotten to be.