 | Egypt |  |
66
PEACE
An angel hovers on evasive wings
Ever above the head of him who sings,
Of him who sorrows, him who labours, dreams,
Or follows pleasure; still the purple gleams
Of those bright pinions circle round his head:
Perchance they circle even round the dead.
Ever above the head of him who sings,
Of him who sorrows, him who labours, dreams,
Or follows pleasure; still the purple gleams
Of those bright pinions circle round his head:
Perchance they circle even round the dead.
Evasive are her wings; they never fly
Quite from the precincts of their native sky;
Whether on laughing harvest-fields we look
Or trace the turnings of a cressy brook,
Whatever way we woo her to our heart,
The Seraph, moving with us, moves apart.
Quite from the precincts of their native sky;
Whether on laughing harvest-fields we look
Or trace the turnings of a cressy brook,
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The Seraph, moving with us, moves apart.
Oh, when shall we entice her wings to stoop?
When will the evening of her presence droop
On our unquiet day? We haste and haste
Aimless, and ever round our feet the waste
Widens, unwatered save by bitter tears,
Unpeopled save by shades of formless fears.
When will the evening of her presence droop
On our unquiet day? We haste and haste
Aimless, and ever round our feet the waste
Widens, unwatered save by bitter tears,
Unpeopled save by shades of formless fears.
O gentle influence, descend, descend,
And let our greatest evil have an end;
Although less often should we call unkind
Our fortune than the folly of our mind,
Pity our state and like a fragrance sink
Into our souls, to temper all we think.
And let our greatest evil have an end;
Although less often should we call unkind
Our fortune than the folly of our mind,
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Into our souls, to temper all we think.
Fold, fold thy wings, thou earth-avoiding dove,
Obey our luring, like a hawk of love,
And when, at last alighting, thou hast brought
The close of seeking that so long we sought,
Long as thy sojourn may thy solace be,
Not for Time only, but Eternity.
Obey our luring, like a hawk of love,
And when, at last alighting, thou hast brought
The close of seeking that so long we sought,
Long as thy sojourn may thy solace be,
Not for Time only, but Eternity.
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