 | Poems by James Rhoades |  |
139
XXV.
[O calm great brows! clear forehead unconfin'd!]
O calm great brows! clear forehead unconfin'd!Fever'd by no day's heat nor dreams of night!
Whose myriad perfect eyes absorbing light—
The light indwelling of the eternal Mind—
Sleep not, nor faint, with their high watch oppress'd—
All truth, all beauty, like a land outspread
Before them, and, beneath and overhead,
That moving Order which is more than rest!—
We are full of broken beauties; with strong pain
Here 'mid this finite throbs the infinite,
Like pent-up fire that bursts the mountain's brain:
Yet patient still, still waiting to attain
Full stature for the flame's expanding might,
We feed it, and we keep it burning bright.
| Poems by James Rhoades | |