 | English Roses |  |
488
PHAROS.
A shimmering point, a lonely light,
In sunshine now and then in shade,
Combing to cream the wash of night
Which murmurs round its balustrade;
The Pharos stands
And lifteth up its beacon spark,
It guides us as with guardian hands
To haven through the homeless dark;
It cannot sleep
When others may securely rest,
But must its watch eternal keep—
Bright jewel of the ocean's breast.
In sunshine now and then in shade,
Combing to cream the wash of night
Which murmurs round its balustrade;
The Pharos stands
And lifteth up its beacon spark,
It guides us as with guardian hands
To haven through the homeless dark;
It cannot sleep
When others may securely rest,
But must its watch eternal keep—
Bright jewel of the ocean's breast.
The hours in flakes of silence fall
Out of the universal womb,
Old Time, that (making, breaking all)
Is still our birthplace and our tomb.
They never touch
That witness between earth and sky,
Which suffers long and labours much
But knows not our mortality.
It giveth yet
A testimony calm and clear,
While suns and moons arise and set,
Unchanging in the changing year!
Out of the universal womb,
Old Time, that (making, breaking all)
Is still our birthplace and our tomb.
They never touch
That witness between earth and sky,
Which suffers long and labours much
But knows not our mortality.
It giveth yet
A testimony calm and clear,
While suns and moons arise and set,
Unchanging in the changing year!
Fixed outpost of the world, it binds
The land and water as its own,
And troubled not by waves and winds
Doth link the known to the unknown.
It governs each,
For though the ruler's arm be strong
It may not at its farthest reach
Like this, which rolls the earth along.
In solemn care,
With more than human love it gives
To every clime an equal share,
And for the peoples only lives.
The land and water as its own,
And troubled not by waves and winds
Doth link the known to the unknown.
It governs each,
For though the ruler's arm be strong
It may not at its farthest reach
Like this, which rolls the earth along.
In solemn care,
With more than human love it gives
To every clime an equal share,
And for the peoples only lives.
489
The Pharos in its glory beams
A saving rock, a refuge still,
Though strife in red and angry streams
May thunder round its iron will.
A house of light
It holds within perpetual day,
When winter and the hosts of night
Besiege it hungry for the fray.
Despite their shout,
And through their shadows as they fly,
I fancy God is gazing out
Of it from hoar eternity.
A saving rock, a refuge still,
Though strife in red and angry streams
May thunder round its iron will.
A house of light
It holds within perpetual day,
When winter and the hosts of night
Besiege it hungry for the fray.
Despite their shout,
And through their shadows as they fly,
I fancy God is gazing out
Of it from hoar eternity.
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