The Shining Of The Earliest Star

Representative Text

1 The shining of the earliest star,
Unveiled from purple shades afar
That brighten o’er the brow of night,
Can bring no cheer, amid its beams,
More bright than through this promise gleams:
At evening time there shall be light.

2 There shall be light—O wanderer! say,
Groping through tears thy weary way,
Hath hope in shadows taken flight?
There shines a love-star o’er the tomb,
And sing the angels through the gloom:
At evening time there shall be light.

3 And seest thou, through the dying day,
That brighter shines the lovely ray
As darker grows the coming night?
And hearest thou, through the twilight calm,
The silvery sweetness of this psalm,
At evening time there shall be light?

4 As erst around the Bethel Stone
A gleam of Heaven’s own glory shone,
The pilgrim saw, in visions bright,
Down starry steeps a band descend,
And seraph tones in chorus blend,
At evening time, and there was light.

5 And as the Magi turned their way
Toward the infant Savior lay,
And one pure star had crowned the night,
Methinks o’er plains of far Judea,
His heralds’ voices sounded clear,
At evening time there shall be light.

6 Untouched by earth’s insensate things,
We hear the sound of angel wings
Down drooping in their distant flight—
We see the shadows melt away,
With silvery voices softly say,
At evening time there shall be light.

7 No frowning darkness of the grave,
No murmurs of the sullen wave
Our feet have touched, can bring affright,
As, floating from the starry spheres,
Sounds the glad hymn of endless years,
At evening time there shall be light.

Source: The Cyber Hymnal #8015

Author: Elizabeth Gertrude Barber Barrett

Elizabeth Gertrude Barber Barrett was born November 30, 1827 in New Haven, Conn. She traveled widely with her father and also with her husband Charles H. Barrett, who was master of a merchant ship. She wrote poems about her travels. She died of cholera in 1863. Dianne Shapiro, from Memoir by S. Dryden Phelps in "The Poems of Elizabeth B. Barber Barrett" (New York: Hurd and Houghton, 1866) Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: The shining of the earliest star
Title: The Shining Of The Earliest Star
Author: Elizabeth Gertrude Barber Barrett
Meter: 8.8.8.8.8.8
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Tune

ST. PETERSBURG

Dmitri Stephanovich Bortnianski (b. Gloukoff, Ukraine, 1751; d. St. Petersburg, Russia, 1825) was a Russian composer of church music, operas, and instrumental music. His tune ST. PETERSBURG (also known as RUSSIAN HYMN) was first published in J. H. Tscherlitzky's Choralbuch (1825). The tune is suppo…

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The Cyber Hymnal #8015
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The Cyber Hymnal #8015

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