LORD DE TABLEY. 1835-1895 AT THE COUNCIL I stood to-day in that great square of fountains, In many echoes towards the Alban mountains I saw the nations throng thy burnished spaces, Tumult of light rolled on that human ocean; They seemed to toss their giant arms appealing Where Angelo with mighty hand has striven To paint his angels on an earthly ceiling, Grander than those of heaven. Mid-air among the columns seemed to hover Whence are these come who tread thy courts, Jehovah, We are gathered thine elect among all races; Thy whisper found us in our desert places, Ninth Piety of Rome, with whom the Keys are, Nicæa's thunders yet are fresh as morning, Beams in whose light the Church has gone and goes; To-day Nicæa peals in Rome her warning, Pontiff, to curse thy foes. We come, Armenia, Gaul, Missouri, Britain; Grey heads have waves Atlantic wafted scathless, To far Canadian meres of ice-bound silence, Then with one mind they came, the Bishop leaders, The outpost Captains of the Church at fight, From uplands clothed with Lebanonian cedars, From realms of Arctic night. Lo! we are ready at thy summons, father; Loose and we loosen, bind and we shall bind : Thunder the doctrine of this last evangel; Clear as the note of doom its accents sound! At thy reproof let nations quail in terror, For God hath made thy mouth His own, and error Let all be doomed on whom thy curses thunder; Hear, shade of Calvin, ghost of Luther, hearken ! Leave vain philosophies, old dreamer Teuton, Behold a sign, ye sceptic sons of evil! The dogma; raising which, as Michael brave, Our Pope confront their scientific devil Over each unclosed grave; Till Death and Doubt be thy tame sheep, O pastor, Pontiff of souls and Vicar of God's choice Infallible, in whom the spirit-master Hath breathed his spirit voice. "Explain our faith! all faithful hear thy mandate ; NUPTIAL SONG Sigh, heart, and break not; rest, lark, and wake not! As mere-waves whisper and clouds grow crisper, In moonlight lonely he is my love only, I share with none when Luna rides in grey. As dawn-beams quicken, my rivals thicken The light and deed and turmoil of the day. To watch my sleeper to me is sweeter Than any waking words my love can say ; In dream he finds me and closer winds me! Let him rest by me a little more and stay. Ah, mine eyes, close not; and though he knows not, Fair darkness measure thine hours, as treasure Each moment dearer, true-love lie nearer; My hair shall blind thee lest thou see the ray; My locks encumber thine ears in slumber, Lest any bird dare give thee note of day. He rests so calmly; we lie so warmly; A HYMN TO APHRODITE Uranian Aphrodite, fair From ripples of the ocean spray : Sweet as the sea-blooms in thy hair, Rosed with the blush of early day, O hear us from thy temple steep, Where Eryx crowns the Dorian deep. Unfold the rapture of thy face, No more thy lustrous eyes conceal; But from the rivers of thy grace The rich abundant joys reveal. Give us the treasures of thy rest; Take us as children to thy breast. Desired of all the ages long, As Morning young, as old as Fate; The kneeling world with choral song Has crowded round thy altar gate. Thine are the seasons past and dumb, And thine the unborn years to come. |