 | Poetical Works of Lionel Johnson |  |
MOTHER ANN
To George Barton.
White were the ardours of thy soul, O wan Ann Lee!
Thou spirit of fine fire for every storm to shake!
They shook indeed the quivering flame, yet could not make
Its passionate light expire, but only make it flee:
Over the vast, the murmuring, the embittered sea,
Driven, it gleamed: no agonies availed to break
That burning heart, so hot for heavenly passion's sake;
The heart, that beat, and burned, and agonized, in thee!
Thou spirit of fine fire for every storm to shake!
They shook indeed the quivering flame, yet could not make
Its passionate light expire, but only make it flee:
Over the vast, the murmuring, the embittered sea,
Driven, it gleamed: no agonies availed to break
That burning heart, so hot for heavenly passion's sake;
The heart, that beat, and burned, and agonized, in thee!
Thou knewest not: yet thine was altar flame astray;
Poor exiled, wandering star, that might have stayed and stood
Hard by the Holy Host, close to the Holy Rood,
Illumining the great one Truth, one Life, one Way!
O piteous pilgrim pure amid night's sisterhood:
For thee doth Mother Mary, Star of Morning, pray!
Poor exiled, wandering star, that might have stayed and stood
256
Illumining the great one Truth, one Life, one Way!
O piteous pilgrim pure amid night's sisterhood:
For thee doth Mother Mary, Star of Morning, pray!
1896.
| Poetical Works of Lionel Johnson | |