The Poetical Works of the Rev. George Croly :: :: University of Virginia Library

There is a love! 't is not the wandering fire
That must be fed on folly, or expire;
Gleam of polluted hearts, the meteor-ray
That fades, as rises Reason's nobler day;
But passion made essential, holy, bright;
Like the raised dead, our dust transform'd to light;
But, the rich foretaste of a loftier clime,
Friendship of souls, in heaven scarce more sublime!
Earth has its pangs for all; its happiest breast
Not his who meets them least, but bears them best.
Life must be toil! yet oh, that toil how drear,
But for this soother of its brief career,
The charm that virtue, beauty, fondness, bind,
Till the mind mingles with its kindred mind!
'Tis not the cold romancer's ecstasy,
The flame new lit at every passing eye,

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But the high impulse that the stately soul
Feels slow engross it, but engross it whole;
Yet seeks it not, nay, turns with stern disdain
On its own weakness that can wear a chain;
Still wrestling with the angel, till its pride
Feels all the strength departed from its side.
Then, join'd, and join'd for ever,—loving, loved,
Life's darkest hours are met, and met unmoved;
Hand link'd in hand, the wedded pair pass on
Through the world's changes, still unchanging, one;
On earth one heart, one hope, one joy, one gloom,
One closing hour, one, undivided tomb!

Mysterious union! was thy beauty made
To sink with life's weak shades, itself a shade?
Was it for this thy glorious train was given?
High virtues, then first stooping from their heaven,
Round thee, and thee alone, on earth to move;
Holy fidelity, pure peace, true love;
Veil'd here,—yet emanations of a throne
Loftier than man's dull'd eye dares gaze upon.

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Thou Paraclete! through earth's long pilgrimage
Shelter of infancy, support of age!
Man stain'd or sunk, as thy white wing was dim;
Till at His coming whom the Seraphim
Hymn'd to the shepherds from the midnight skies,
Thou heard'st the call that bade the world arise;
And He, life's glory, death's captivity,
Shew'd his first might to honour, hallow thee :
And thou wert hallowed, and from life's dull gloom
Shone out the heart, the holiness of home.
From that high hour, no more a toy or slave,—
Woman, life's flow'ret, shared the peace she gave;
Nature was purity, and faith was love,
The Spirit had descended as a dove!

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And shall thy gentle mission finish here?
Thou angel,—more than angel minister!
To whom youth's passion, manhood's burning zeal,
All that the heart, the wild, fond heart, can feel,
Turn, as the billow to the midnight moon,
In proud submission to thy heavenly throne;
Guide, soother, saviour, to life's final shore,
Shall then, oh then, thy task of love be o'er!

“There was a marriage in Cana of Galilee.” (John II.) The Christian commandment against polygamy was a principle of total change in the condition of the sex. Paganism made them prisoners. Mahommedism makes them slaves. It might have been in some degree with reference to this great reform that Cana was honoured with the first miracle.