University of Virginia Library


136

XVII. IN CIVITATE SANCTIFICATA REQUIEVI.

In silence, like a ridge of snows
Slow reared in lands for ever calm,
On Sion's brow the Temple rose;
In stillness grew as grows the palm.
Far off, on ridges vapour-draped,
Was hewn and carved each destined stone:
Far off the axe the cedars shaped
Upon their native Lebanon.
So rose that Temple holier far
Incarnate Godhead's sacred shrine:
Round her there swelled no din of war:
The peace that girt her was divine.
The deep foundations of that fane
Were laid ere lived the hills and seas
In many a dread, unquarried vein
Of God's deep Will, and fixed Decrees.
High Queen of Peace! Her God possessed,
Her heart could feel no earthly want:
His kingdom, 'stablished in her breast,
Triumphant was, not militant:
And day by day more amply played
His love about its raptured thrall
Like some eternal sunset stayed
On cliff rich-veined, or mountain wall.