 | The Cup of Quietness |  |
28
A GUARDIAN ANGEL
Ambassadress from heaven to earth,
Priestess of all things pure and good,
The meekness of whose maidenhood
To Christ doth yet give birth;
Priestess of all things pure and good,
The meekness of whose maidenhood
To Christ doth yet give birth;
Could sickly sophistries confute
Thine eyes' celestial eloquence,
Weak man, the struggling slave of sense,
Would lapse again to brute.
Thine eyes' celestial eloquence,
Weak man, the struggling slave of sense,
Would lapse again to brute.
When passion beckons, not remorse,
Nor frown of stern philosophy,
Nor thundered code of Sinai
Avail to bar his course.
Nor frown of stern philosophy,
Nor thundered code of Sinai
Avail to bar his course.
But where the ways of men begin
To slope toward hell, an angel stands,
Whose silent lips and suppliant hands
Persuade him more than sin.
To slope toward hell, an angel stands,
Whose silent lips and suppliant hands
Persuade him more than sin.
29
O thou that makest Springtime sweet,
My love for thee is pure as prayer,
My kneeling soul doth hardly dare
To kiss thy gentle feet.
My love for thee is pure as prayer,
My kneeling soul doth hardly dare
To kiss thy gentle feet.
Spirit of dawn, whose breath divine
Doth bid the fiends of night depart,
Accept the worship of a heart
Whose holiest thought is thine;
Doth bid the fiends of night depart,
Accept the worship of a heart
Whose holiest thought is thine;
Nor deem my love idolatry,
For surely if the Son of God
Still walks the earth which once He trod,
'Tis hand in hand with thee.
For surely if the Son of God
Still walks the earth which once He trod,
'Tis hand in hand with thee.
| The Cup of Quietness | |