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97
STEROPÈ.
Chilly the white mist creeps,
The dank wind sobs and weeps,
Heavily fall the dead leaves from the tree;
All starless overhead
The murky heavens are spread,
The muffled moon looms o'er the weary sea;
While by the midnight shore
I listen to the roar
Of ebbing waves, and sadly muse on Thee.
The dank wind sobs and weeps,
Heavily fall the dead leaves from the tree;
All starless overhead
The murky heavens are spread,
The muffled moon looms o'er the weary sea;
While by the midnight shore
I listen to the roar
Of ebbing waves, and sadly muse on Thee.
On thee, and that far time
When, like a silvery chime
Of wedded bells, faint-heard through summer air—
Or Heaven-inspirèd words
Blent with majestic chords
Of music, where a people bow in prayer,
Our hearts in unison—
Diverse, though still as one!—
Wove golden concords round us everywhere.
When, like a silvery chime
Of wedded bells, faint-heard through summer air—
Or Heaven-inspirèd words
Blent with majestic chords
Of music, where a people bow in prayer,
Our hearts in unison—
Diverse, though still as one!—
Wove golden concords round us everywhere.
98
Till God's fair universe—
As though the primal curse
For us had ceased—appeared a glorious fane,
Where, rapt in ecstasy
Of worship, thou and I
Knelt, all enfranchised from the touch of pain;
While softly from above
Stooped the white angel Love,
To link our lives in one with flowery chain.
As though the primal curse
For us had ceased—appeared a glorious fane,
Where, rapt in ecstasy
Of worship, thou and I
Knelt, all enfranchised from the touch of pain;
While softly from above
Stooped the white angel Love,
To link our lives in one with flowery chain.
The wondrous pageantry
Of air and earth and sea:
Shadows of lovelier—of diviner things!
The starry hopes that guide
Man's spirit through the wide
And perilous wastes of life, to truth's pure springs:
Echoes that downward float
From the high heaven of thought
Where soar the kings of song on sunlit wings.
Of air and earth and sea:
Shadows of lovelier—of diviner things!
The starry hopes that guide
Man's spirit through the wide
And perilous wastes of life, to truth's pure springs:
Echoes that downward float
From the high heaven of thought
Where soar the kings of song on sunlit wings.
These still did minister
To holy joy, and stir
All noblest passions:—even corporeal sense
Subliming in the flame
Of love, till it became
The spotless handmaid of fair Innocence;
Whose calm and candid eyes
Filled all our paradise
With their own splendour—stainless and intense.
To holy joy, and stir
All noblest passions:—even corporeal sense
Subliming in the flame
Of love, till it became
99
Whose calm and candid eyes
Filled all our paradise
With their own splendour—stainless and intense.
But in the blessed hour
When least I feared his power
The snake slid in, and at thy slumbering ear
Hissed his sleek blasphemies,
Glozed in such honied lies
As cozened even thy soul, serene and clear.
And now—I walk apart
With solitary heart
Mourning my Eden lost, with many an unshed tear.
When least I feared his power
The snake slid in, and at thy slumbering ear
Hissed his sleek blasphemies,
Glozed in such honied lies
As cozened even thy soul, serene and clear.
And now—I walk apart
With solitary heart
Mourning my Eden lost, with many an unshed tear.
Yet not for self alone
I mourn the glory gone:
Life, though obscured, is still for me divine:
My spirit keeps its faith,
And shall unto the death!
But what, frail heart, can ere restore to thine
Its birthright lost?—its high
Communion with the sky?—
Its priceless pearls downcast under the feet of swine?
I mourn the glory gone:
Life, though obscured, is still for me divine:
My spirit keeps its faith,
And shall unto the death!
But what, frail heart, can ere restore to thine
Its birthright lost?—its high
Communion with the sky?—
Its priceless pearls downcast under the feet of swine?
100
Hark! from the hollow north
A wind comes trampling forth;
The cloudy cope is rent, and far above
Tempest and rack, the pole
Shines steadfast. O, my soul,
Accept the presage! The Eternal Love
Who formed, will still sustain:
Will to the fold again
Lead back his blood-washed lamb, though wide and far she rove!
A wind comes trampling forth;
The cloudy cope is rent, and far above
Tempest and rack, the pole
Shines steadfast. O, my soul,
Accept the presage! The Eternal Love
Who formed, will still sustain:
Will to the fold again
Lead back his blood-washed lamb, though wide and far she rove!
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