Songs of A Wayfarer :: :: University of Virginia Library

Davies, William (1830-1896)

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Fervently the good Johannes,
Praying, asked a sign from heaven,
How to use to noblest purpose
All the wealth that God had given.

Slept the clustered vines of August:
Slept the solemn cypresses:
Only waked the mellow-throated
Nightingales amongst the trees.

137

Lightly lulled to peaceful slumber;
Dreaming in the happy night,
Came the blessed Virgin to him
Robed in folds of blissful light.

Tenderly she smiled upon him:
All her accents sweeter far
Than the nightingale's low carol
Chanted to the evening star:

‘The Lord has heard thy prayer in heaven:
His love and mercy never fail:
And thou shalt build a temple to Him
There where I lay down my veil.’

One by one the bright stars faded:
In the rose the dewdrops kiss'd:
Golden clouds like angels floated
Through a sky of amethyst.

Then arose the good Johannes
Wondering what his dream might mean;
Wandering through the ripening vineyards
Of the sunny Esquiline:

Stood upon the level summit,
Pondering still, when, lo! he found
A fall of summer snow was lying,
Shaped to pattern, on the ground.

Then his dream was clear unto him;
And he told the miracle;
And they came with swinging censer,
Burning lights and book and bell:

138

Blessed the spot, and raised upon it
Pillared roof with shrine below;
And they named from Her the temple,
‘Holy Mary of the Snow.’

Rome, 1867.