64 Angel Visits. From you, the veil of midnight darkness rending, On those bright steps between the earth and sky: By Chebar's brook ye passed, such radiance wearing With its high crystal arch, intensely pure; But in the Olive Mount, by night appearing, Midst the dim leaves, your holiest work was done. Yet one more task was Yours! your heavenly dwelling But may ye not, unseen, around us hover, With gentle promptings and sweet influence yet, Though the fresh glory of those days be over, When, midst the palm-trees, man your footsteps met? Are ye not near when faith and hope rise high, When love, by strength, o'ermasters agony? The Treasures of the Deep. 65 Are ye not near when sorrow, unrepining, W THE TREASURES OF THE DEEP. WHAT hidest thou in thy treasure caves and cells, Thou hollow-sounding and mysterious main ?— Pale glistening pearls, and rainbow-coloured shells, Bright things which gleam unrecked of, and in vain,. Keep, keep thy riches, melancholy sea! We ask not such from thee. Yet more, the depths have more! What wealth untold, Won from ten thousand royal argosies.— Yet more, the depths have more! Thy waves have rolled Above the cities of a world gone by! Sand hath filled up the palaces of old, Sea-weed o'ergrown the halls of revelry.— Dash o'er them, ocean! in thy scornful play: Man yields them to decay. E 66 The Ivy Song. Yet more! the billows and the depths have more! The battle-thunders will not break their rest.--- Give back the lost and lovely!—those for whom To thee the love of woman hath gone down, THE IVY SONG. H! how could fancy crown with thee, And bid thee at the banquet be Companion of the Vine? Ivy thy home is where each sound Of revelry hath long been o'er; The Ivy Song. Where song and beaker once went round, Where long-fallen gods recline, The Roman, on his battle-plains, Though, shining there in deathless green, Around the victor's grave— Urn and sculpture half divine The cold halls of the regal dead, Where lone the Italian sunbeams dwell, Where hollow sounds the lightest tread Ivy! they know thee well! And far above the festal vine Thou wavest where once proud banners hung, Tower and rampart o'er the Rhine, High from the fields of air look down 67 68 A Song of the Rose. Thou that wilt climb the loftiest height, Ivy! Ivy! all are thine, Palace, hearth, and shrine. 'Tis still the same: our pilgrim-tread Still meets decay and thee. All are thine, or must be thine- A SONG OF THE ROSE. "Cosi fior diverrai che non soggiace E a piu fido Cultor posto in governo, Unir potrai nella tranquilla pace, Ad eterna Bellezza odore eterno."-METASTASIO. That fervid hue of love, which to thy heart-leaf glows? |