University of Virginia Library

XLI. VIGILANCE.

Virgin! at placid morn, and when the airs
Of evening fan her flushed and throbbing sky,
Send up, like doves, thy homeward thoughts on high,
And mingle with those gentle thoughts thy prayers.
Blameless thou art: but One there is who dares
Assail for ever, and remorselessly
The soul of finest grain and purest dye,
And in the softest herbage sprinkles tares.
Virgin! that Power which sends the winds of Even
To rock the blossoms on the boughs of May,
That Power the Spirits of the Mind obey,
And come and go at His command alone:
Yea, but for Him the loftiest star of Heaven
Would drop, supplanted, from his glittering throne.