| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | IV. Day-dawn | | By John Hunter |
| | | THE FIRST low fluttering breath of wakening Day | |
| Stirs the wide air. Thin clouds of pearly haze | |
| Float slowly o’er the sky, to meet the rays | |
| Of the unrisen sun,—whose faint beams play | |
| Among the drooping stars, kissing away | 5 |
| Their waning eyes to slumber. From the gaze, | |
| Like snow-wreath at approach of vernal days, | |
| The moon’s pale circlet melts into the gray. | |
| Glad Ocean quivers to the gentle gleams | |
| Of rosy light that touch his glorious brow, | 10 |
| And murmurs joy with all his thousand streams; | |
| And Earth’s fair face is mantling with a glow, | |
| Like youthful Beauty’s, in its changeful hue, | |
| When slumbers, rich with dreams, are bidding her adieu. | | | | |
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