 | The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere |  |
II. PONTIFIC MASS IN THE SISTINE CHAPEL.
Forth from their latticed and mysterious cellsThe harmonies are spreading, onward rolled:
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Midway more high the gathering tumult swells;
It sinks: a breeze the incense cloud dispels:
Once more Sibylline forms, and Prophets stoled
Look down, supreme of Art's high miracles,
Upon the Church terrene. Once more, behold,
With what an awful majesty of mien
The Kingly Priest, his holy precincts rounding,
Tramples the marbles of the sacred scene:
The altar now he nears, and now the throne;
As though the Law were folded in his zone
And all the Prophets in his skirts were sounding.
| The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere | |