 | Specimens of American poetry |  |
CONFIRMATION.
The white-stoled Bishop stood amid a crowd—Noviciates all—who, tutor'd to revere
The mitre's holy offices, drew near,
And, after sins renounced, and pledges vow'd,
Pale with emotion and religious fear,
In meek subjection, round the chancel, bow'd,
To hallow'd hands, that o'er them, one by one,
Fell, with a Prelate's thrilling benison.
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An active virtue to the temper'd steel,
Oh let thy hand rest on them till they feel
A new-born impulse stirring in the heart,
And, swinging from surrounding objects, free,
Point, with a tremulous confidence to Thee!
| Specimens of American poetry | |