Page:Prometheus Bound, and other poems.djvu/117

Rh

And so my Hope were slain,

Had it not been that wert standing near,

Oh Thou, who saidest 'live' to creatures lying

In their own blood, and dying!

For Thou her forehead to thine heart didst rear,

And make its silent pulses sing again,—

Pouring a new light o'er her darkened eyne,

With tender tears from Thine!

Therefore my Hope arose

From out her swound, and gazed upon Thy face;

And, meeting there that soft subduing look

Which Peter's spirit shook,

Sank downward in a rapture to embrace

Thy piercèd hands and feet with kisses close,

And prayed Thee to assist her evermore

To "reach the things before."

Then gavest Thou the smile

Whence angel-wings thrill quick like summer lightning,

Vouchsafing rest beside Thee, where she never

From Love and Faith may sever;

Whereat the Eden crown she saw not whitening,

A time ago, though whitening all the while,

Reddened with life, to hear the Voice which talked

To Adam as he walked.