Joseph Rodman Drake

Hope

See through yon cloud that rolls in wrath,
   One little star benignant peep,
To light along their trackless path
   The wanderers of the stormy deep.

And thus, oh Hope! thy lovely form
   In sorrow’s gloomy night shall be
The sun that looks through cloud and storm
   Upon a dark and moonless sea.

When heaven is all serene and fair,
   Full many a brighter gem we meet;
’Tis when the tempest hovers there,
   Thy beam is most divinely sweet.

The rainbow, when the sun declines,
   Like faithless friend will disappear;
Thy light, dear star! more brightly shines
   When all is wail and weeping here.

And though Aurora’s stealing beam
   May wake a morning of delight,
’Tis only thy consoling beam
   Will smile amid affliction’s night.