University of Virginia Library

III. ON A PICTURE BY COREGGIO AT PARMA.

Paint thou the pearl gates of the Morning Star,
Loftiest of Painters, and the loveliest;
For only of thy pencil worthy are
Those ever-smiling mansions of the blest!
Thyself when homeward summoned to thy rest
Couldst scarce have marked our earth's receding bar:
No happier shapes could greet thee, near or far,
Than oft in life thy radiant fancy drest.
God, when He framed the earth, beheld it good:
The light from His approving smile that shone
For thee waned never from her features wan:
Before thine eyes—unfallen if unrenewed—
Still moved that Race supreme and fairest made;
And Love and Joy, twin stars, still on their foreheads played.