O Thou whose beams the sea-gift earth array, <br />King of the sky, and father of the day! <br />O sun! what fountain hid from human eyes, <br />Supplies thy circle round the radiant skies, <br />For ever burning and for ever bright, <br />With heaven's pure fire, and everlasting light? <br />What awful beauty in thy face appears! <br />Immortal youth, beyond the power of years! <br /> <br />When gloomy darkness to thy reign resigns, <br />And from the gate of morn thy glory shines, <br />The conscious stars are put to sudden flight, <br />And all the planets hide their heads in night: <br />The queen of heaven forsakes th' ethereal plain, <br />To sink inglorious in the western main. <br />The clouds refulgent deck thy golden throne, <br />High in the heavens, immortal and alone! <br />Who can abide the brightness of thy face! <br />Or who attend thee in thy rapid race! <br />The mountain oaks, like their own leaves decay; <br />Themselves the mountains wear with age away; <br />The boundless main that rolls from land to land, <br />Lessens at times, and leaves a waste of sand: <br />The silver moon, refulgent lamp of night, <br />Is lost in heaven, and emptied of her light; <br />But thou for ever shalt endure the same, <br />Thy light eternal, and unspent thy flame. <br /> <br />When tempests with their train impend on high, <br />Darken the day, and load the labouring sky; <br />When heaven's wide convex glows with lightnings dire, <br />All ether flaming, and all earth on fire: <br />When loud and long the deep-mouth'd thunder rolls, <br />And peals on peals redoubled rend the poles; <br />It from the opening clouds thy form appears, <br />Her wonted charm the force of nature wears; <br />Thy beauteous orb restores departed day, <br />Looks from the sky, and laughs the storm away.<br /><br />John Logan<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/ossian-s-hymn-to-the-sun/
