John Keble.
GOOD-NIGHT.
Close now thine eyes, and rest secure;
Thy soul is safe enough; thy body sure;
He that loves thee, He that keeps
And guards thee, never slumbers, never sleeps.
The smiling Conscience in a sleeping breast
Has only peace, has only rest:
The music and the mirth of kings
Are all but very discords, when she sings:
Then close thine eyes and rest secure;
No sleep so sweet as thine, no rest so sure.
Francis Quarles.
THE DEWDROP.
A dewdrop, falling on the ocean wave,
Exclaimed, in fear, "I perish in this grave!"
But, in a shell received, that drop of dew
Unto a pearl of marvelous beauty grew;
And, happy now, the grace did magnify
Which thrust it forth—as it had feared—to die;
Until again, "I perish quite!" it said
Torn by rude diver from its ocean bed:
O, unbelieving!—So it came to gleam
Chief jewel in a monarch's diadem.
Richard C. Trench.