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 | The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere |  |
153
XL. EVANESCENCE OF THE PATRIARCHAL RELIGION.
Hermes! unearthly were those melodiesThat closed the lids of Argus! one by one
His hundred orbs, by a sweet force pressed down,
Yielding successively, like Heaven's bright eyes
When moonlight spreads along her glistening skies:
Smiling he sank, more pleased the more undone,
Inebriate, while through those thin lids the sun
Shone warmly without light!—thy sorceries,
Faith of the Pagan world, so fair of old,
Worked like those songs! Procession, Legend, Rite,
Sapped thus transmitted Truth by spells of Art:
Till the ever-waking spirit in man's heart
Relinquished at the last its sacred hold
Of God's prime creature, beatific Light!
| The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere | |