CLXIII.THE RAFT FROM LINZ.
I
Another bend among the hills,
One other bend, and we shall hear
Among the green o'erhanging trees
The rocky Wirbel boiling near.
II
Upon the Danube and the woods
Lay evening's red and troubled gleam,
And calmly, as a lifeless thing,
The raft from Linz went down the stream.
III
And then how softly rose the hymn
For Mary's succour in the strait,
And that good Angels in the pool
To steer the little craft might wait.
IV
It bent and strained, and in the foam
A while the crazy vessel quivered;
And then it glided like a swan,
St. Mary hath the raft delivered.
V
And there the convent boat appears
To ask an alms of all who pass,
Oblation made with willing heart
To Mary and St. Nicholas.
VI
And thus to great Vienna bound,
The boatmen watch the stars all night,
And for their hymn and for their alms
They deem the weather calm and bright.
VII
Yet some dare blame the holy faith,
As if to untrue forms it clings,
While thus unto the unseen world
For blessing every thought it brings.
VIII
And those who, safe in modern powers,
Heed not the whirlpool in their way,
And count the men of Linz untaught,
Are in true lore less taught than they.
IX
Alas! how oft hath science made
The heart obtuse, the eye untrue,
Obscuring providential tracks
With veils a woodman's faith sees through!
X
We want the earth left to ourselves;
And signs where God doth hide to bless
We class, as though, in classing them,
We took away their awfulness.
XI
For this to cold, unhumble men
Is all that vaunted knowledge gives,
The raising self by hiding God,
The disennobling of our lives.
XII
The men of Linz see into Heaven,
Where sages but detect its law;
Judge which the better wisdom is,
And who hath holier love and awe.
XIII
Yea, only lest this barren dream
Upon the men of Linz should pass,
Were reason they should kneel and pray
To Mary and St. Nicholas.
