“How great is God!” a million tongues repeat,

And million tongues re-echo, “God, how great!”

But now again the day star bursts the gloom,

Scattering its sunshine o’er the opening sky;

Thy eye, that pierces even through the tomb,

Has chased the clouds, has bid the vapours fly;

And smiles of light, descending from above,

Bathe all the universe with joy and love.

From Sir John Bowring’s Specimens of the Russian Poets.

EVENING MEDITATIONS
ON SEEING THE AURORA BOREALIS