 | Claribel and Other Poems |  |
VESTA'S PRIEST
O white-robed Vesta! to maintain thy flame I swear.
Bow, proud patrician! From thy snowy hair,
O Wisdom! take the crown.
Kneel humbly down
Ye warriors! and ye, reverend priests! bend low
Before the Sacred Virgins as they go
Along the public street:
Blessing the way with feet
That tread down shame.
Bow, proud patrician! From thy snowy hair,
O Wisdom! take the crown.
Kneel humbly down
132
Before the Sacred Virgins as they go
Along the public street:
Blessing the way with feet
That tread down shame.
O clear-eyed Vesta! O neglected flame!—
O Death!—
Close veil her weakness! lead her hence beneath
The all-concealing earth!
Why speak of worth,
Of innocence, of natural loving need?
We hear in vain, we may but heed
The worship and the oath.
Unfaithful to her troth,
We bury Shame.
O Death!—
Close veil her weakness! lead her hence beneath
The all-concealing earth!
Why speak of worth,
Of innocence, of natural loving need?
We hear in vain, we may but heed
The worship and the oath.
Unfaithful to her troth,
We bury Shame.
Divinest Vesta! Mother of the Powers!
Inspire
My heart, and fill me with thy purest fire.
Choose for thy lamp this soul,
To show the goal
Of virtue, only in thy temple gain'd
By lives ungrieved, unstain'd.
Keep me above the earth!
Kindle within me worth
For all the hours!
Inspire
My heart, and fill me with thy purest fire.
Choose for thy lamp this soul,
To show the goal
Of virtue, only in thy temple gain'd
By lives ungrieved, unstain'd.
Keep me above the earth!
Kindle within me worth
For all the hours!
| Claribel and Other Poems | |