University of Virginia Library


56

LXXVII.
THE SAME SUBJECT.
[THE SPIRIT OF INTELLECTUAL ART.]

Thy thought, but whisper'd, rises up a spirit,
Wing'd and from thence immortal. The sweet tone,
Freed by thy skill from prisoning wood or stone,
Doth thence, for thine, a tribute soul inherit!
When from the genius speaking in thy mind,
Thou hast evolved the godlike shrine or tower,
That moment does thy matchless art unbind
A spirit born for earth, and arm'd with power,
The fabric of thy love to watch and keep
From utter desecration. It may fall,
Thy structure,—and its gray stones topple all,—
But he who treads its portals, feels how deep
A presence is upon him,—and his word
Grows hush'd, as if a shape, unseen, beside him heard