Night―and the cool soft air
And the murmurous sleep of the sea;
And moving up the purple East
Orion’s splendid three.
Night―and the silentness,
And the shadow-brooding lea;
And moving thro’ the mellow South
Orion’s constant three.
Night―and the loneliness,
And the eyes that wake and weep;
But calm and patient in the West
The stars that never sleep.
What is your watchword, stars?
Tell me, Orion’s three!
What is your message? . . . Love,
Patience and Constancy?
“The Watchword of the Stars” as it appears in Higginson’s The Voice of April-Land and Other Poems (1903).