Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1918.djvu/1117

 GEORGE WILLIAM RUSSELL (<;')

Satyrs may follow after. Seraphs

On crystal wing May blaze. But the delicate first comer

It shall be King. They shall obey, even the mightiest,

That gentle thing.

All the strong powers of Dante were bow'd

To a child's mild eyes, That wrought within him that travail

From depths up to skies, Inferno, Purgatorio

And Paradise.

Amid the soul's grave councillors

A petulant boy Laughs under the laurels and purples, the elf

Who bnatch'd at his joy, Ordering Caesar's legions to bring him

The world for hib toy.

In ancient shadows and twilights

Wheie childhood had strayed, The world's great sorrows were born

And its heroes were made. In the lost boyhood of Judas

Christ was bctray'd.

Let thy young wanderer dream on:

Call him not home. A door opens, a breath, a voice

From the ancient room, Speaks to him now. Be it dark or bright

He is knit with his doom.

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