Then in the sudden glory of a minute

Airy and excellent the proem came, Rending his bosom, for a god was in it, Waking the seed, for it had burst in flame.

So even I athirst for his inspiring,

I who have talk'd with Him forget again, Yes, many days with sobs and with desiring | Offer to God a patience and a pain ;

Then through the mid complaint of my confession,

Then through the pang and passion of my prayer,

Leaps with a start the shock of his possession,

Thrills me and touches, and the Lord is there.

Lo, if some pen should write upon your rafter

MENE and MENE in the folds of flame, Think you could any memories thereafter Wholly retrace the couplet as it came ?

Lo, if some strange intelligible thunder

Sang to the earth the secret of a star, Scarce could ye catch, for terror and for wonder,

Shreds of the story that was peal'd so far.

Scarcely I catch the words of his revealing,

Hardly I hear Him, dimly understand, Only the Power that is within me pealing Lives on my lips and beckons to my band.

Ah, what imperial force of fate

Links our one race in high emprize! Nor aught henceforth can separate

Those glories mingling as they rise; For one in heart, as one in speech,

At last have Child and Mother grown, Fair Figures! honoring each in each

A beauty kindred with her own.

Through English eyes more calmly soft Looks from gray deeps the appealing charm ;

Reddens on English cheeks more oft

The rose of innocent alarm;

Our old-world heart more gravely feels, Has learnt more force, more self-con

trol;

For us through sterner music peals

The full accord of soul and soul.

But ah, the life, the smile untaught,
The floating presence feathery-fair!
The eyes and aspect that have caught
The brilliance of Columbian air!
No oriole through the forest flits

More sheeny-plum'd, more gay and free; On no nymph's marble forehead sits Proudlier a glad virginity.

So once the Egyptian, gravely bold,
Wander'd the Ionian folk among.
Heard from their high Letôon roll'd

That song the Delian maidens sung;
Danced in his eyes the dazzling gold,

For with his voice the tears had sprung,"They die not, these! they wax not old, They are ever-living, ever-young!"

SEEMS not our breathing light?
Sound not our voices free?
Bid to Life's festal bright
No gladder guests there be.

Ah stranger, lay aside

Cold prudence! I divine The secret yon would hide, And you conjecture mine.

You too have temperate eyes, Have put your heart to school, Are prov'd. I recognize

A brother of the rule.

I knew it by your lip,

A something when you smil'd, Which meant "close scholarship, A master of the guild."

Well, and how good is life;

Good to be born, have breath, The calms good, and the strife,

Good life, and perfect death.

Come, for the dancers wheel,

Join we the pleasant din, Comrade, it serves to feel

The sackcloth next the skin.

LEONARDO'S "MONNA LISA"

MAKE thyself known, Sibyl, or let despair
Of knowing thee be absolute: I wait
Hour-long and waste a soul. What word of
fate

Hides 'twixt the lips which smile and still forbear?

Secret perfection! Mystery too fair!
Tangle the sense no more, lest I should hate
The delicate tyranny, the inviolate
Poise of thy folded hands, the fallen hair.

A LONELY way, and as I went my eyes Could not unfasten from the Spring's sweet things,

Lush-sprouted grass, and all that climbs and clings

In loose, deep hedges, where the primrose lies

In her own fairness, buried blooms surprise The plunderer bee and stop his murmurings,

And the glad flutter of a finch's wings Outstartle small blue-speckled butterflies. Blissfully did one speedwell plot beguile My whole heart long; I lov'd each separate flower,

Kneeling. I look'd up suddenly -Dear God!

There stretch'd the shining plain for many

a mile,

The mountains rose with what invincible power!

And how the sky was fathomless and broad!